The Unsalted Truth #5 - The Quiet Art of Slow Living

 

The Quiet Art of Slow Living

My old school friend Dr Prasanna, a highly qualified and seasoned paediatrician, came to visit us recently. After sharing the initial niceties, I asked “What’s your plan?”. “Nothing” he replied. “I am here to spend time with you now. Later I will decide what to do.”  Here was an extremely busy professional, for whom a working day would be a rush of patients and emergencies, totally relaxed, no hurry in his demeanour and only wanting to spend time with us at this moment.

That set me thinking. Living in the Now, Be Present, Mindfulness are all buzzwords of today. You can find that in the Upanishads, talks by spiritual teachers like Mooji or Eckhart Tolle, in Buddhist teachings, in Chinese philosophy, literally everywhere. But in my friend, I found a living embodiment of someone walking the talk. So what does slow living mean? Does it mean slow movements, relaxed thoughts, patience in dealings with life? As I set out on a long practice walk as part pf preparations for the Dandi March, thoughts swirled within me and I felt I must put my pen to paper to share it with others. 

Embracing Patience

Have you noticed nature? It never seems to be in a hurry. The sunrise will take its own time. Even though the earth spins at a crazy speed around but one would need patience to enjoy the beauty of sunrise. Think about a seed sprouting and growing to be a big mango tree. Most plant the seed and keep looking at it hoping the first sprouts come up fast and quickly bear fruits. But No. It is going to take its own time. The meandering river, the sprouting bud, the caterpillar changing to a gorgeously coloured butterfly - they all have their own speed at which they move. This acceptance of the way of life, that of patience would help us live in peace.

And once we slow our inner pace, we start noticing something else: the space around us. The clutter—physical and mental—that quietly steals our time.

Simplicity by Decluttering

Reducing clutter both tangible and invisible, is another way of reclaiming time. We all go through the agitation of seeing a cluttered cupboard, overflowing with clothes and paper. The attic filled with stuff which we have not brought down and used in years. The unread mails in the inbox, a spam of messages which we have not taken time to delete, even the contact list in the mobile filled with names whose faces we don’t remember - all these crowd not just our home but our mind too. Plus, of course, our head full of mental clutter - of the what’s in store in the future and regrets of the past which leave no space for us to enjoy the present. Trying one’s hand in minimalistic living, I found, is a great way to simplify one’s life. Throwing out clothes we cling to for sentiment, giving away books that would help someone else better, limiting social media exposure are ways I found my life becoming simple.

And with that space we create something precious: room for kindness.

Random Acts of Kindness

Walking inside my apartment complex, I noticed a couple of young boys struggling with their cycle. The chain had got loose and was stuck. I stopped and spent the next couple of minutes to ease the chain out and set it on the teeth of the sprocket. My hands were dirty with grease and the back ached a bit but it all seemed worth the while to see the smile on their faces and the loud “Thank you Uncle” that they called out as they cycled merrily away. Helping an elderly person cross a busy road, picking up a snail slowly crawling across a walking path away from the feet of passers by, holding the door open and even offering your seat in the crowded metro - each act would make one feel a great sense of bliss from inside. It makes life worth living. Yes, it takes time and effort but it is well spent.

And the same holds true for leisure—the most neglected form of kindness we can show ourselves.

Pleasure in Leisure

Having lived a life always on the go, from one meeting to another, from one deadline to another, target to target, slowing down seems literally not doable. Even while travelling we tend to be in a hurry, in a project schedule mode, hoping to see maximum places in one day with an attitude of making the best of the time and money we have spent. ‘Paisa Wasool’ basically. My wife and I travel so differently. While I wanted to walk along Lake Geneva, she wanted to sit in a bench facing the lake and watch the sail boats go slowly by. I want to see the Top 10 places in a new city while she wanted to enjoy just two of them and have a relaxed lunch sitting under an awning of a cosy bistro. Over a period of time I learnt to see from her point of view in everything we do. Leisure was not idleness - it was just being. One does not need to rush through a book,  one should live with it. Cooking for someone can give you great pleasure if you take it like a leisure activity. The time the eggs take to boil, the tea to brew, the paneer to marinate, the potatoes to crisp slowly - you can’t speed them up. It is going to take its own time. 

And perhaps, that’s what life itself is teaching us—to live by our own rhythm.

Living at Life’s speed

Journeying through life is what I call OTW - Own Time Work. We learn this quite late. As an old joke goes, by the time we realise that our parents were right, our kids tell us we are wrong. Yet it is never late to slow down life.  Setting our morning rituals straight helps. Waking early, walking your pet, sipping hot filter coffee, reading a few pages of a book before the day kicks in. These may seem ordinary, even repetitive and boring but over time they align us with life’s natural rhythm. Having meals at regular hours, setting a DND window for yourself, avoiding late night scrolling - they make sure that time returns to where it belongs - in our hands. 

The Full Circle

When Dr Prasanna said he had “no plans,” he wasn’t being careless with time. He was being deeply respectful of it.

Slow living isn’t about doing less—it’s about being wholly where you are. It is about moving at the speed of life itself. Being fully present with whatever we choose to do.

And maybe, that’s the quiet art worth mastering.