The past week has been increasingly turbulent as the start of the academic semester approached. Lots was happening in my work and personal life and instead of riding the wave or even treading water, there were moments when I was sure I was beginning to feel the undertow. Yesterday I was reminded of the need to slow right down, and this morning that was exactly what I did – slowed right down – to now, in fact.
I could feel my mind thinking wider and in more complex ways, like strings on a map, radiating out from central points and connecting to nodes, forming networks upon networks: Layers of tasks with different goals, timings, and requirements.
At one point something crossed. A line? Maybe a pin fell out of my mind’s map, and as I connected … if this, then that, was that then? If that was then, I must have been this old when…. And somehow it was like I pressed pause, as I got lost in thought – for a moment.
I caught myself in that daydream and pulled myself forward. I’m not then. I’m now. How can I create that pause now, and think here, as opposed to then. Well that is easy. All we have to do is slow right down. For me that happens in lots of places – running, yoga, walking, and even writing.
Yesterday I was driving through London, and I was struck by its vibrancy. It was alive and gleaming and beautiful – and in all the years I’ve driven to and around London (25 years !) it has changed. One noticeable thing is that it is all now slow – literally. 
The speed limit in central London is 20 everywhere. What that means is even in the height of crazy traffic, there is still time to look and notice and catch people’s eye and smile, and that is jolly nice.
It was a day of driving and thinking, and this morning on my run when I saw a ’20’ painted on the road I thought – you know, ‘20 is plenty’. It’s time to slow right down and be here now. That’s something I can do.
#YesICan
Map Image CC BY-NC-ND by Chris Blakeley The sunrise and running images are my own.