Slowness

What does it mean slowness? Is there a connection between slowness and the perception of reality? How can we feel everything around us with more intensity?

These are all questions that makes me wondering a lot. When I talk about slowness, I start to imagine time.

“The degree of slowness is directionally proportional to the intensity of memory.”

- Milan Kundera

Time is the shadow behind everything we do. Today we always rush, and you already know all the reasons. We do a lot of things and we are connected with a lot of people. Suddenly, while we are doing all these stuff, we forget to feel the time. We forget to feel what we are really doing. We forget to breathe what we are doing. That’s why there’s a lack of intensity in our life. We finish with an emptiness feeling and it’s like if we cannot remember what we really did the last week or the last months. Days drag on and on and we don’t feel what we do. Imagine years gone by, and you forgot what you have really done.

Do you believe that it’s true? Do you feel a lack of intensity on everything you do?

Personally I believe that being slow is a key aspect to be “more present” and enjoying more the things we do. Imagine to go in a museum and to find a paint you love. Imagine to sit down in front of that paint and watching it for a couple of hours without doing anything else; without checking the smartphone, without thinking, just looking that paint. Would you be able to do something like this? Neither for your favorite paint ever? Neither for something incredibly beautiful??

There’s no need to be so extreme, but is important to keep in mind that appreciation needs time. If you want to get deep and being passionate on what you do, you have to be slow, to feel every detail; in other words, you have to be present more than ever. Being slow, will change our perception of reality. You don’t believe? Try to make this experiment with the one you love. Ask your parner to look you in the eyes, without saying any word, and at the same time, look at his/her face for a long moment, without speaking. Slowly, looking that eyes, it’s like if the reality of that moment is subversed. You will have a sense of estrangement because on that moment, it’s like if you are looking directly to the soul of the one in front of you. Anyway, the point is that life is made by moments, and we should not be coarseness if we want to appreciate the best details of our life. Details are not just details.

Recommended readings: Douglas Rushkoff — Present Shock; Milan Kundera — Slowness.

Written by Davide La Rocca
Head picture by ClickFlashPhotos / Nicki Varkevisser