Slow Down If You Must – But Only for a While

“If this body, mind and this life do not allow you to stretch beyond your limits and do something, in many ways it is a wasted life.”

—Sadhguru

Q: When I make a conscious effort to slow down, the underlying bliss is more noticeable. Why is this? And is this a good thing to do?

Sadhguru: Withdrawing from activity for periods of time is a good thing to do. But maybe you do not know how to withdraw, or you are not completely encumbered and you have no right to withdraw. Most people do not have a right to withdraw when they want to. There is no such thing in their life because they have a 35-year housing loan and a 15-year car loan, they have an insurance to pay, and they have a cemetery plot payment!

Servicing Time

This happened to a man from Minnesota. He spent half his life buying a very prime grave spot for himself. There are prime localities even in graves. Then, when he was seventy years of age, for the first time he decided to take a cruise to the Caribbean. The damn thing sank, and he was lost at sea.

You cannot even sell this kind of real estate. In so many ways people are encumbered, so maybe the only thing allowed for them is to slow down a bit because withdrawal is not possible. And even if they withdraw, they do not know how to manage themselves in that withdrawal time, so maybe a slowdown could work. But if you slowdown all the time, you will squish your life.

For example, let’s say you have a car. If it goes for servicing for one day in a month, we can afford to switch off everything, and when it comes back, it must be able to run at regular speed, otherwise it is better not to have this car.

If slowdown is a conscious slowdown for a few days, it is okay. But if the only way you can be happy is by slowing down, then you will end up in a spot in your life. If this body, mind and this life do not allow you to stretch beyond your limits and do something, in many ways it is a wasted life.

You are not here to preserve yourself. If you were dead and suppose you were a unique species, then we would see how to preserve you. But when you are alive, it is not about preservation. It is about allowing life to happen with full force. So slowing down as a way of life definitely is not a solution. But a conscious slowdown for a few days is good because it will give you a certain space and time to do certain things with yourself. If withdrawal is not possible, slowdown is an option, but it must be only for a fixed period of time, not for life.

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