No Rush Monday

Heaven can be found in a flower

Living simply has benefits for the environment and for creating a more equitable world. But it also has benefits for us personally. Our quality of life improves as we move toward consuming less, working less, and getting to know our neighbours and community.

We can also get to know what slow feels like again. The faster we go, the less we see. By living more slowly and meaningfully, it is possible to see more. We can discover, as Erich Auerbach said, "nothing less than the wealth of reality and depth of life in every moment to which we surrender ourselves without prejudice."

William Blake mused about seeing "a World in a grain of sand, and a Heaven in a wild flower". Imagine what you could find in your own backyard or neighbourhood park. You do not need to go far to experience "infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour".

Life provides us with more than enough - right where we are at, every moment. We just have to slow down and take the time to notice it.

"One wanted, she thought, dipping her brush deliberately, to be on level with ordinary experience, to feel simply that's a chair, that's a table, and yet at the same time, It's a miracle, it's an ecstasy." - Lily Briscoe in To The Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf