How to slow things down this summer

Photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash

Maybe some of us are still waiting for summer to come, for those long days of endless sunshine and heat. Why wait? Let’s seize the moment and enjoy our summer right now. Especially as the longest day of the year has recently passed us by.

How can we do this?

Learn how to savour

Relish every day. Even every minute of every day. And we will find ourselves turning all those little moments of our day into golden moments that tomorrow can become precious memories for us. You may remember that poem from school -

“What is this life if full of care, 

we have no time to stand and stare?”

… can you remember the conclusion of this poem?

“A poor life this, if full of care

We have no time to stand and stare.”

I imagine that none of us would be happy with an epitaph stating our life was ‘poor’ or lacked substance. Yet ironically, when we slow down on the inside and in our external activity, we find we can attain another deeper level of richness in our relationships and our lives in general.

So let’s stop and soak up the colours and fruits of the season before they disappear, feast our eyes on the multi-coloured roses, wallow in the joys of walking barefoot on the sand, or eating ice cream outside in the open air, without feeling guilty.

Because ‘Summer’s lease has all too short a date.’ - Shakespeare

Relish in the ‘Blessed Power’

William Wordsworth, the British romantic poet, spent his life and writings delighting in the wonder and richnesses of nature. As a pantheist, he came to find his creator and his God in a tree, or a lake, or a landscape that ‘blessed power that rolls about, below, above us.’ And from finding his creator in the natural universe he came to understand his fellow man better and learned how to love in a deeper, richer way.

We don’t have to become pantheists to take lessons from Wordsworth about nature. There is a certain implicit wisdom in his words, however. The pace of summer invites a different rhythm than the other seasons, one that is more conducive to stopping a little and using all our senses to extract a richer texture. Perhaps something not dissimilar to the bees extracting nectar from flowers. From slowing down in summertime we can gain that wisdom which will help us discern what is truly important for me today. What are the things I can bring to my relationships and work that can help the others more?

Get out in the natural world

Summer is an opportunity to eat outside in the open air, and eating out can help us develop a rhythm that draws us closer to nature. Just taking our lunch in the garden or even our breakfast can give us greater vitality and make us feel more alive and enervated. Perhaps we need to be that bit more creative about setting aside some spaces in our day where we can feed our senses on good things and learn how to enjoy more those small delights that can easily pass us by.

Use your leisure time wisely

After an absence of five long summers, Wordsworth returns to Tintern Abbey, the ruins of the first Cistercian Abbey in Wales. He delights in the steep and lofty cliffs and sits under the sycamore tree looking at the unripe fruits in the orchard and the little hedge-rows beside pastoral farms with their wreaths of smoke ascending to the sky. The memory and recollection of these things sustained him in those long, lonely years and enabled him to deal better with the ‘heavy and weary weight of this unintelligible world.’

Slowing down doesn’t mean losing time by going slow, but doing the things that are most important to us and therefore using time better. When we slow down, we govern the rhythms of our life better. We are more in control, and less at the mercy of time which can become a relentless tyrant over us.

Perhaps most importantly, slowing ourselves and the pace of our lives down improves the quality of our relationships with others. Recently, I was giving a guided tour of Trinity College to some people from Fáilte Ireland who were enjoying a day out of the office. Of course, I was keen to make sure that I managed to deliver all my information in the time frame that I had. Then at one stage while we were standing outside the Berkeley Library an Italian girl from the group began talking about the artist Pomodoro who had constructed the metal sculpture at the front. She was animated as she shared some stories with her colleagues about her experience with similar works of this artist. It made me stop and realise that these people were truly enjoying their day out and were delighted at the opportunity to engage with each other outside of the workplace. These people were in a slow space. 

It got me thinking more about relationships … am I fully present when I am with other people or is there an internal monologue going on? Because being fully present can help me learn more from others. And we can always learn more.

Slow down this summer to develop more empathy and get better at putting yourself in the shoes of others. 

Slow down this summer and develop a sense of humour. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Learn to laugh at yourself more.

Slow down this summer and make more time for the people in your life. Listen to their story. Really, really listen. Not just to the words, but to the body language as well … to the silences, the pauses, the rhythm. You will be happier, freer, and have more to offer others!

‘Wisely and slow. They stumble those who run fast.’ - William Shakespeare