Moving at the Speed of Life
The paradoxical gift of acceleration
Hi everyone,
I hope you are all moving with your changes.
I’m appreciating more and more the old dictum that life “moves faster” as we get older. I understand the psychological rationale for this: later in life, each day is a smaller fraction of our lived experience, and we feel this relative smallness as time passing more quickly.
The gift of this “acceleration” is the gratitude and appreciation that comes with a more embodied sense of impermanence. We accept ever more deeply the mystery and mutability of life as it is. We are forced to.
When we do, we are less beholden to the ideas we carry around about ourselves — which ever more convincingly reveal themselves as wholly inadequate to explaining what’s going on — and which it turns out are the source of much of our self-created problems.
We can amplify the lessons of growing older with foundational wisdom practices. Meditation is the best, especially meditation done in the context of an established tradition, and with the guidance of experienced practitioners. Mine (obviously) is Zen Buddhism.
Other foundational practices involve ceremony, ritual and various forms of self-study, which can be supported by healers, teachers, mentors and plant medicine. Last week I had the opportunity to experience a personal plant medicine retreat with the support of my wife Aria, an experienced healer and guide. It has helped me see and feel more intimately the aliveness that I am a part of and is a part of me.
The paradoxical consequence of our deepening aliveness is that the sense of acceleration completely changes character and is revealed to be an illusion that was created by the abstracting tendency of our minds. Only by comparison with an earlier experience of our lives does it appear to “move faster.”
When we are fully present, moving with the changes, the ever present depth of life and love reveal themselves in all things, all beings, including the insentient.
When I started this newsletter, I intended to write about another subject: the three non-negotiables for fulfilling work (meaning, freedom and flow). I’m finding myself really dialed in to the how to find these things, and it’s become the focus of my coaching.
But I’m going to keep this one short, and encourage you to appreciate your life deeply, early and often. In every moment, your body and mind are fantastically alive, and always changing.
The more you pay attention to this, the more your experience of the so-called “bigger” stuff — goals, challenges, breakthroughs, setbacks, confusion, clarity — becomes a beautiful ground for you to experiment, play and enjoy your aliveness.
If you would like to talk about mentorship, sign up for a Free Discovery session. One session may be enough for you; or I have flexible options for working together.
Finally, I appreciate your support for this newsletter, through a free or paid subscription, and promoting it to friends.
P.S. I’ll write about meaning, freedom and flow later this week!
take care,
Paul