This time of year feels busy.
How many Halloween events, curriculum nights, soccer tournaments, birthday parties and family get-togethers are on your calendar? How many days fly by faster than the last? How many invitations are you accepting because you still remember wanting nothing more than a social gathering three years ago? How many times do you arrive at the event only to feel rushed to get to the next one or to leave because you’re exhausted?
The rush is real right now and I’m feeling it. Often when life feels this busy, I take a contrasting approach. I schedule time for nothing. If I see one day on the calendar where our family has nothing going on, I celebrate! What will we do? Watch a movie, play a game, cook lots of food (my favorite past time), and get outside if we’re lucky. We try to do nothing, which feels great if you are intentional about it. When you sit down and scroll on your phone for an hour without being intentional, it doesn’t always feel good. When you mindlessly watch TV to the point where you’re not paying attention and Netflix asks if you’re still watching, it doesn’t always feel good. When you schedule time to watch a movie of your choice, set other things aside, and give your attention to just one thing, it always feels really good.
Yes, intentionally doing nothing can be life-changing, but sadly, we just don’t always have time for it. We have plans and commitments and while time spent doing nothing can be healthy, time spent in community is life-giving too. That's why I keep saying yes and the calendar keeps filling up. Realizing this got me thinking, maybe it’s not the downtime I’m craving. Maybe I’m hungry for the intentionality.
Taking on a busy calendar can feel like a game. The challenge? Get through the craziness of the day as quickly as possible. The prize at the end of it all? Actually, there isn’t one. We go to bed and wake up to start all over again and this is how the days, months and years fly by. So, instead of rushing through the busy schedule, I’m finding a way to slow down while still showing up as much as possible. I want to make it to the events, games, parties, and get-togethers and I want to feel like I was actually there, not just rushing to the next thing. How am I doing this? It’s all about seeing the art.
Creating art, really good art, is a slow process. It takes time, effort, and sacrifice. Observing art is a gift. It can happen walking by someone’s garden (the picture above is from a flower garden we walk by on the way to school) or window shopping at a gallery. It can happen at a restaurant or even at the grocery store. What work is behind the final product that you observe? If I’m about to eat food and I recognize the farming, harvesting, labor, recipes, preparation and overall art that went into what is on my plate, it pulls me out of the dinnertime, busy-mind rush and into intentional living.
A sporting event is a work of art, as well. If you stop and recognize the time, energy, and hard work athletes put into their bodies and their sport, it feels vast and awe inspiring. Think about the work of a coach – the videos watched, plays planned, inspiration cultivated, and the many practices that the team endures to bring this show into the arena - it's the opposite of rushing through life. The possibilities for observing art around us and appreciating the process behind it all are endless and practicing this is truly mindfulness at its finest.
Social media is pulling us in the other direction. For better or worse (I mostly think it’s the latter), I’ve spent more time on social media in the last year than ever before. It’s for my business and it’s generating results, so it’s part of my daily life for now. The way that we, myself included, consume information and art on social media is the opposite of intentional. Someone’s writing gets boiled down to a one sentence quote only to be partially read and hardly retained. A video someone creates of their art gets watched for 2-3 seconds on average and then we are on to the next, waiting to be entertained without seeing any of the work behind the content.
Just like doing nothing can feel impossible, going off of social media entirely can too. I have done it before and it was lovely, but like I said sometimes it’s a necessary part of life and that’s okay too. You can still engage intentionally as much as possible. Pausing when you see something, noticing (and sometimes questioning) the work behind it, and even actively participating (making your own content) can help make it feel more purposeful and less mindless.
Taking a break is big too. I’m finding that the best contrast to social media is reading a slow book. Not a boring book, but a book that moves a little slower. I don't have a timeline or feel pressure to finish it, but if I turn my attention to a slow moving book for a few moments a day it makes me feel like I’m digesting life differently.
I consume something that moves slower over a longer period of time and it’s a richer experience. This is how I want to appreciate art. This is how I want to move through my day. This is how I want to approach a busy schedule. Mostly, this is how I want to see humanity and the experience of life. A little less rushed and a lot more intentional.
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