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I am the kind of person who always has to be doing something. I find it very difficult to just sit. Yet sometimes I think the simplest restorative measure to take in a life that is busy and full is just to be still. Today I sat with my children and we listened to the autumn rain falling on the leaves. We watched the raindrops trickle down the glass of our patio door in interesting patterns. It was peaceful.
What helps you to slow down and savor the world around you?
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Hey Catherine,
ReplyDeleteit's funny that I am writing to you through the blog but your question was a great one. What makes me slow down and savor the world around me? My faith. As an Orthodox Christian I am lucky enough to have been exposed to the writing of Christians throughout the centuries who constantly admonished us to slow down. In fact in a prayer by St. Ephriam called "The Righteous Prayer".
O Lord and Master of my life, give me not the spirit of sloth, idle curiosity, lust for power and idle talk.
But grant unto me, Thy servant, a spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love.
Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see mine own faults and not to judge my brother. For blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages. Amen.
The word sloth in this prayer is a reference to what the Desert Fathers thought was the greatest of all sins. Sloth to them meant to go through life as if in sleepwalking, not noticing the things around you that God has given for a gift.
Praying this prayer daily helps me to remember not to let things fly by me unnoticed and that when I am not in a peaceful place all of the other parts of the prayer tend to be in full force.