This week let’s finish chapter 2 of Take Your Time, reading pages 48–54. Having offered a number of skills and strategies for prioritizing our time and relieving pressures, Easwaran now reaches what he describes as “the real crux of slowing down: developing an unhurried mind.” And he makes clear that the implications are profound:
“The Buddha called this ‘living intentionally.’ It is a way of life. Slowing down is not the goal; it is the means to an end. The goal is living in freedom – freedom from the pressures of hurry, from the distractions that fragment our time and creativity and love. Ultimately, it means living at the deepest level of our awareness.”
Is there a relationship in your life that you wish you could improve? Read this article for tips from Easwaran. Try applying those tips, even if you can’t apply them directly to this particular relationship.
We’ve been extending our practice of slowing down by working through the ideas and suggestions on pages 55–56. Read through that list and choose an experiment that fits best for you this week.
For our spiritual treat, we are pleased to share the next excerpt from the Easwaran video “The Other Shore.” Note that the full video is 26 minutes, but the excerpt goes from 12:26 – 19:05 and the player should start and stop automatically at those times. We’ll share the final segment of this video next week. Of course, you are welcome to watch more now as well.