Ease

I read an ebook this week entitled, "What Matters Now." It's a collection of micro-essays (200 words) from a variety of authors: Seth Godin, Dave Ramsey, Tom Peters, Tim Sanders, and many others with whom I wasn't familiar.

I recommend it (it's a free download from Seth Godin's blog), but one essay grabbed my attention and has yet to let go.

EASE

by Elizabeth Gilbert

We are the strivingest people who have ever lived. We are ambitious, time-starved, competitive, distracted. We move at full velocity, yet constantly fear we are not doing enough. Though we live longer than any humans before us, our lives feel shorter, restless, breathless...Dear ones, EASE UP.

Pump the brakes. Take a step back. Seriously. Take two steps back. Turn off all your electronics and surrender over all your aspirations and do absolutely nothing for a spell.

I know, I know – we all need to save the world. But trust me: The world will still need saving tomorrow. In the meantime, you’re going to have a stroke soon (or cause a stroke in somebody else) if you don’t calm the hell down.

So go take a walk. Or don’t. Consider actually exhaling. Find a body of water and float. Hit a tennis ball against a wall. Tell your colleagues that you’re off meditating (people take meditation seriously, so you’ll be absolved from guilt) and then actually, secretly, nap.

My radical suggestion? Cease participation, if only for one day this year – if only to make sure that we don’t lose forever the rare and vanishing human talent of appreciating ease.