“Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm, and harmony.”
Thomas Merton
I mentioned in a prior blog post that this knee fracture feels like a reset. I also mentioned that pilgrims find their own rhythms. The idea of a reset feels to me like an opportunity to find a new rhythm for my life.
In my forced slow-down, I’m asking myself questions about the rhythms I have been living. In particular, how much of what I live is busy-ness and filling time, and how much is essential and right movement?
I have an opportunity now to consciously choose: “What is the right rhythm?” rather than just continuing in my established habits.
When I started to ask myself these questions, I wasn’t even sure what I meant by “rhythm”. It just felt like the pace of my usual doing, and the spaces, or pauses, in my day, were “off”.
When you use a walker, you move through your life at a much different rhythm, or pace, than you usually do. You see things that you didn’t see before, because you are moving at a pace that you can “take them in”. Your rhythm is different.
It’s like the difference between walking and driving. When you walk instead of drive, you see so much more.
As I thought more about rhythm, I realized that although it is about pace and space, it is much more about presence.
In a way, it’s back to that question of what’s essential.
In paying attention to just what is essential, and in being present in each step, I am able to savor my experience.
It’s like being fully present to one beautifully prepared entree instead racing through a whole buffet. Somehow, that is right rhythm for me.
I’m beginning to see that in many ways, in my life, I vote for efficiency and volume: getting a lot done in the available time. Trying to make sure that I’m “making good use of time”.
I no longer want my life to be about pace, efficiency, or volume. I want my life to be about the essential, and presence.
When I come to my life from a state of being fully present, what I do will be the right thing at the right time.
And maybe that is right rhythm.
What’s your rhythm?
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