Slow down
and everything you are chasing
will come around and catch you.
~John De Paola
~*~
When was the last time you stopped to listen to the wind blow through the trees? Or stopped to listen to a river as it flowed past you, or the crickets and frogs and other living things as they make their music? When was the last time you listened--truly listened--to a favorite song, paying attention to the lyrics, the drums, the rhythm, the guitars or strings?
~Tom Walsh
~*~
And so taking the long way home through the market I slow my pace down. It doesn't come naturally. My legs are programmed to trot briskly and my arms to pump up and down like pistons, but I force myself to stroll past the stalls and pavement cafes. To enjoy just being somewhere, rather than rushing from somewhere, to somewhere. Inhaling deep lungfuls of air, instead of my usual shallow breaths. I take a moment to just stop and look around me. And smile to myself.
For the first time in a long time,
I can, quite literally, smell the coffee.
~Alexandra Potter
(The Two Lives of Miss Charlotte Merryweather)
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