Hello dear reader,
As I am writing this, my two cats are caressing each other.
I love their sisterly bond and could watch them all day.
Anyway, for today’s newsletter, I want to share a small story or rather a small practice from my life.
As you know, I am not a full-time creator and I go to work from Tuesday through Saturday.
I am an assistant professor working in Kolkata, India and I have my Mondays off. (Yes, having off on Mondays feels wonderful. IYKYK lol)
I leave for work around 10 am each morning and since my college is just 10 minutes away, I take a rickshaw.
There is a rickshaw stand near my place and by now, all the rickshawala dadas’ have come to know me.
In the morning they don’t even ask me where I have to go, they take me straight to my college and sometimes when I don’t have any change to give they tell me I can give them later too.
Most of the Rickshaws are swift and I reach my destination quickly, but there is one rickshawala dada who is rather slow.
His name is Shankar and everyone calls him Shankar Da.
He is frail in health and his rickshaw too is a very old one compared to others.
While most other rickshaws now run by battery and it’s an e-rickshaw, his is the rickshaw that we’ve all grown up riding- one that he has to ride himself.
The rickshaws over here all have their turn and they cannot just take any passenger.
And even as a passenger, I can’t choose whose rickshaw I want to take. (Maybe I can, but I don’t know since I have never asked to change.)
They all wait for their turn one after another.
And in my case, on my ride to college, I always get Shankar Da.
Shankar Da rides his rickshaw so slow that it’s almost at the same pace as I could reach the place walking.
But one thing I have noticed in myself is that- I don’t mind.
I don’t mind it like I would have earlier.
If it was an earlier me, I would have been frustrated on my way to college every time I had to ride in his rickshaw because he is so slow.
Maybe I would ask him to go a bit faster and fret and complain about how slow he is or how I only get a ride in ‘his turn’ and spoil my mood.
But I don’t.
Instead how I see it these days is that it gives me a moment to slow down myself on my way to work, be calm and enjoy my rickshaw ride.
I don’t even feel like using my phone on my rickshaw ride and spoiling that brief moment of slowness and calm.
But I usually have my earphones plugged in and I listen to soothing music on this short and slow rickshaw ride and try to be aware of my breathing.
And this has now become a small regular practice for me- a mindful rickshaw ride.
This might be a small thing, but this saves so much energy and my mood remains calm and joyful when I reach work in the morning.
In my college, another thing I am practising is that every time I leave from one class to another, I try to walk mindfully, instead of randomly.
I am not always successful and I forget it most times, but whenever I do walk mindfully from my classroom to the staffroom or from the staffroom to the classroom, I become more at ease and I walk in a much more relaxed manner.
We are in the habit and culture of fast fast fast, but it’s good to slow down.
When things are not going your way, when something is happening slowly such as if you’re stuck in traffic, or your train got delayed, or when the cab isn’t moving that swiftly, or anything, respect that moment and see it as something that is allowing you to slow down, be mindful and to notice what’s happening around you.
If in the morning you always find yourself in a rush, make your routine in such a way that you are able to do the same thing with ease and in a relaxed manner instead of being in a robotic fast mode all the time.
I realize how important our body language is.
If you walk gently, you become gentle too.
If you put a small half smile on your face, you genuinely feel nice too.
If you do things calmly, you become relaxed too.
And this saves so much energy.
Some time back I had also written this post on ‘The Power of Graceful movement in life on wellbeing’.
Through this newsletter, I just want to remind you (and also me) once again the same thing- to slow down, slow down our place, be gentle in our movements and strive to do all things in a relaxed and easy manner.
It doesn’t always have to be hard.
It doesn’t always have to be fast.
P.S This was a part from my Mindful Monday Newsletter. If you liked what you read and want to receive my updates, join below. It would be wonderful to have you ❤️
Past newsletters you might like:
I found your “You can change your Life Challenge” and loved it, I am currently doing your 21 day Journaling Challenge because I want to get into journaling for many reasons. I have come to love your blog! Reading this post hit home because I am currently trying to slow down too. I live in a city and am from a small town where things are a lot slower. I have learned to slow down in a lot of areas, some I am still working on though. This is a great reminder that sometimes the world is giving you the opportunity to slow down and we should take it! Thank you for your blog and I look forward to reading more and getting your newsletters.
Thank you so much for your kind words.. I am glad my blog and my words are being of use 🙂