Hurry Up and Slow Down

I find it interesting how some things hit me between the eyes.  I love what I read that said, “If you can’t take time to do nothing you are a slave to doing.  Doing nothing is a radical, revolutionary act.  It frees you from the universal slavery of our age: slavery to the clock.  The clock measures doing but not being.”
I was really enjoying what I read.  “…the faster  we go the more likely we are to miss what matters.  We can get so busy doing urgent things and so pre-occupied with what comes next that we don’t experience now.”
I am not for a moment advocating doing nothing on a permanent basis.  But I really do believe that hurry can be my enemy.  Especially the hurry I reckon is endemic of our culture and age.  The hurry of another’s bidding that leaves no room for enjoying who I am, at my pace.
I thought it was pretty profound another thing I read, “We don’t get to our futures any faster by hurrying.”  It sorta gets to me when I hear someone say, I’ll be happy when…”  It is like happiness is deferred.  I don’t know if others have noticed but often when the time of happiness is arrived at it is only to be replaces by another “I’ll be happy when…”  It is like the can is kicked down the road.
To me it is a different matter if someone says they are happy now and merely indicate a future happiness.  It is when happiness is conditional on achieving something or being some place in the future.
I am all for dreams and going for something, but I am even more for balance in a life.  Little to me is worse than burn out and it seems to be so common in our culture.  It may wear a cloak of another name but many ailments to me are the result of un-realistic expectations that either I place on myself, or are placed on me by another.
I am a great believer in work and rest.  There are times I need to just chill.  When a battery is recharged it is often in down time.  My batteries need re-charging. It seems the best time for it is in down time.  Some of my best inspiration comes when I am not trying to achieve what is often legitimate.  But I take the time to rest and do something completely different.
It hit me while I typed that I “take” the time.  Down time often has to be taken because unless I specify it for myself others will fill my time.  When I let that happen, I know I am the one that misses out and others can too as the moment needed for the “ah ha” moment is lost.
The future is not what it could have been as I was in such a hurry I missed now.