....be the tortoise

Yogis,
Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare? An Aesop Fable possibly first told as early as the 5^th century. A tale whose moral is that slow and steady wins the race.

It feels to me like life itself has become a race. Sending our children to school at three years old so they are prepared for kindergarten, to do well in grade school and be ready for the AP classes in high school, to get high scores on the SAT, so that they can get into the best colleges in order to graduate and get a high paying job, to buy a house and a car and work very hard for many years in order to save enough to be able to retire when they are old so they can finally…..relax. Exhausting to even type it!

Our world cheers for the hare. Kudos go to those who are quick, efficient, witty and successful. Those who push hard and struggle and then win! Not much press or attention given to the tortoises among us.

The only problem is the hare is moving through life so quickly, focused only on the finish line that the beauty of the individual moments is lost on him. The landscape a blur as he races through to reach the promised prize.

But what if the prize is already here? For each one of us. In this very moment. Waiting to be noticed. What would happen if we all slowed down?

I am a runner and used to do a lot of races. 5Ks, ten milers and even two marathons. Standing at the starting line waiting for the flag to wave, my vision was always of crossing the finish line. The strategy was to keep my head down, stay focused and keep moving. Even at water stations there was no stopping. You learned the art of slowing to a jog while drinking from a dixie cup without getting the water up your nose or choking. The goal was to finish. Quickly.

Now if we treat life as a race, we are rushing toward the finish. And we all know what awaits us at the finish. Yikes!

The tortoise on the other hand, notices. The vivid green of the moss climbing a tree’s base. The

indescribable beauty of the crisp winter western sky as the sun lowers toward the horizon. The rush of the wind outside the bedroom window signaling a shift in the weather. He is moving forward but his gaze is not toward the finish line, but instead taking in the life happening right beneath his feet.

If there is any time of year to practice being the tortoise, this is it. These next six weeks of winter for most of us have big slices of time with nothing on the calendar. The weather asking us to sit by the window and watch her wonder with a warm cup of tea in our hands. 

Stillness. Quiet. Rest. Powerful practices of the tortoise.

We will all inevitably reach the finish line of life. That is life’s one undeniable truth. Whether we choose to live a race like the hare, or a journey like the tortoise is up to each of us. I choose to be the tortoise.

Life only happens in this moment,
SARAH