If speed is so good why are we getting sicker? by Craig Coman of Chelsea Natural health Clinic, Fulham Rd, London, SW10
The real cost to life in our age of speed.
I had a very interesting interview with Carl Honor last week. He is the author of “In Praise of Slow“. I was not aware that there is a whole slow movement worldwide where people are appreciating that slowing down is crucial to survival. It covers many areas such as slow food, slow travel, even slow sex. Today we are going at a pace that is beyond any other time in history. More is better,the quick fix,I want it now. To do lists, numerous activities and multi tasking are the norm but at what cost? Carl wrote the book after realising he was speed reading books to his son at bedtime and asked himself what this was doing to his son and their relationship. The trouble with youngsters is they know every word in the book so when he got caught out on the fact he was skipping lines there was disappointment and breakdown. Story time should be a quality moment of the day when you wind things down, not a stressful time, and Carl knew things must change. He is not the only one guilty of cutting relationships short to get back to the to-do list, I have caught myself many times in the same act. His book is great, I genuinely recommend it.
Today we seem to have got caught on that treadmill of life and it is extremely difficult to get off. The urgent has taken over the important and the cost is huge. Health, relationships, work, in fact all areas are missing the quality that is possible. From speed dating to eating McDonalds we are in this time machine that is speeding up. What about the kids and the impact on their well-being? I am finding myself in that cultural trap of I will just get this done and next month will be different. Luckily I have a wife who gets it and gives me those reminders to keep me on track.
People I see each week are presenting with all sorts of ailments. The medications, the IVF, even the herbal remedies are designed to give us a quick fix. They are never treating the cause and so there must be a cost. Symptoms are messages in our body something is wrong, a cry for help. To stop and listen to those messages would mean getting off the treadmill. There is no doubt that is tricky today but it will leave you with a completely different result.
The message is that life is precious and you can only appreciate that by smelling the roses. To do that you must slow down. My little boy and I go for a walk out from our house and it takes five minutes to walk 100 metres! At times it is painfully slow in adult terms but he is fascinated with every bug, grain of dirt and hole in the ground. How did I lose that wonder and appreciation of life?
Oh well gotta go things to do, good luck….
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