There Is No Time To Hurry

It was exactly 4pm and I managed to arrive at London Liverpool Street station early. It was such a good feeling. I had some time to get a cup of tea and watch people passing by before meeting my coaching clients.

I sat down and looked around.

Wow! I took a snapshot. I saw a sea of people, all walking fast… Determined. Decisive. Resolute. Even forceful. Busy. Crazy busy. Everybody seemed in a hurry. It looked like everyone was running a little bit late trying to catch up with time.

Everyone seemed lost in thought. Everyone in their own bubble.

It made me think about the famous violinist Joshua Bell and the experiment he took part in 2007. You might remember it because the story went viral!

In 2007, Joshua Bell stuck a baseball cap on his head and rocked up at a Metro station in Washington and began to busk. You would expect at least some of the passers-by to stop, listen, pop some money in Mr Bell’s violin case, wouldn’t you? How many people do you think stopped?

Hardly anyone stopped! In fact, out of 1,097 people that passed Bell by, only 27 gave any money, and only 7 actually stopped and listened for a short time.

And how much did he make? The violinist who commands thousands for each concert on the greatest stages in the world made $52. And $20 of that was from the one person who did recognise him.

I bet, if we asked those passers-by why they didn’t stop, the answer would be very simple: I had no time to stop and listen. I was in a hurry.

How many times do you hear yourself saying I have no time to stop! I am in a hurry!

Sadly, I hear myself saying that pretty often. But maybe we are getting it all wrong?

As I slowly sipped my tea and took another look around… I really wished I could press the imaginary PAUSE button. I wanted to gift people A MOMENT – just a minute – to stop, to take a breath, to look around, to look at each other, to smile, to smell the coffee, to smile again, to remember what’s really important.

I wanted to shout – THERE IS NO TIME TO HURRY

We miss out when we go through the day in a hurry. Exhaustion, ineffectiveness, disconnect, loneliness, mistakes, accidents, despair, chronic stress and burnout can arise from here. When we hurry, we lose capacity to be spontaneous, to really listen, to see beautiful things around us, to connect with others, to be creative, effective and to think outside of the box.

We simply lose the capacity to be present, enjoy the magic of life and appreciate each precious moment…

… like this one…

Don’t say – I don’t have time. You do. Take a moment – what have you been putting off? What was the last thing you didn’t do because you were in a hurry?

Make time and do it. There is no time to hurry.

Lastly, this is what Rumi says about living in a hurry … there is a great secret here for anyone who can grasp it…

“When I run after what I think I want, my days are a furnace of stress & anxiety. If I sit in my own place of patience, what I need flows to me without pain. From this I understand that what I want also wants me, is looking for me, and attracting me. There is a great secret here for anyone who can grasp it.”

With love
Dorothy