Rush Days

 People often feel hurried in today's world, and I am no exception to that rule. When I am feeling rushed, I often need to remind myself that I am the one who is in charge of my own pace. Even if someone is telling me to do more, I can use awareness to judge just how much effort is needed without tiring myself out.
  Being rushed requires a cognition of another person who is "rushing me". But does anybody rush me? Well, in a way, it is only by consenting to another person's idea about time, efficiency and quantity that I start to experience a discrepancy between how I do things and how the other wants me to do them. "Rushing" is literally giving into a concept of time that isn't fitting my physical and mental processes. I literally "knock myself out" to meet a deadline that might not be that feasible.
  When I was a kid, I remember taking a can of Pepsi to a school trip. Because pop was only provided as a treat at the time, I savored that can of Pepsi. When lunch was finishing up, the other student told me to drink quickly, since we would not be able to take anything to the school yard. I slugged down the last half of the can of pop and felt terrible; it certainly wasn't a speed that was allowing my body to enjoy it. And nor was it that good for my digestion, since I recall having a stomach ache afterward.
  The point of this anecdote is that when I surrender my bodily and mental experiences of time for someone else's concept of time--of what should be done, by what time, etc.--I have to sacrifice a way of being in time. In doing so, I get rid of all the special things that make me part of time, including my sensory and mental processes. This happens if a person tells me "don't think too much--just get it done". "Getting it done" involves a mad dash for quantity, and this can be violent on the mind.
   It's helpful to recognize and honor one's own speed. While we have to make compromises and adjustments, it should probably not be to the point of total exhaustion, burnout or having to risk bodily health or integrity to get a quick result. I think this requires a certain mindfulness that, while speed can be varied, it needs to be accompanied with an embodied awareness of what one is doing.