About seven years ago, I  had a “wake up” call. I was entering a retreat at a place with a high concentration of Conscious energy. I was dragging a huge suitcase up a long stretch of stairs. A man at the bottom told me that he would help me but he had a bad back. He also told me I was hurrying.

“Not really, ” I answered. “My problem is that I brought more stuff along than I can handle.” (I also thought to myself, “If you won’t help me, at least don’t criticize me.”)

I soon found out that I was in denial. And that what I took as criticism (and it may have been) was a huge event in my life.

That simple message about hurrying was repeated to me throughout the retreat in various ways. And the awareness of hurrying  has become a touchstone for my mindfulness practice all these years. When I catch myself hurrying, it’s my “wake up” call.

Obviously, I did have to admit that I was hurrying, and that I do hurry.

What hurrying is NOT: it is not the same as moving quickly. We can move quickly and not be hurrying and we can move relatively slowly and be hurrying. It’s the state of mind.

I think of hurrying as a racing mind, a mind composed of thoughts tumbling over themselves, a mind oriented in the future and the need to get there. There is a sense of dissatisfaction in not being there, which can become agitation, then frenzy,  and, in its extreme form, panic.

The trouble is that when we are hurrying to get there, we are not here.

Mindfulness is the antidote to hurrying. Mindfulness makes a clearing for being present in this very moment. Often, slow movement, like walking meditation, does help us to become more present. Pausing and taking a mindful breath is also a way to come back to ourselves right here, right now.

It’s actually very simple to become mindful. There are a few practices we can do to help us. What is simple can be difficult, though. As my mom has always said, “Practice makes perfect.” If we long to be awake and aware, more free from judgment and unconscious programming– if we want to be more fully alive— we can. And practice does make perfect.

— Pam