Rushless Living

Our modern-day society is fueled by a constant desire to do more, and to do more, faster. We are inundated by articles, seminars, books and lectures about topics that embody this mentality such as time management, how to increase your productivity, how to create to-do lists and how to always be moving forward in your life.

It is no wonder why we have trouble sitting still, relaxing and enjoying the present moment; we are constantly being advised not to delay, to “strike while the iron is hot” not to “put off until tomorrow what could be done today”.

It seems as if our lives are focused on only the shortness of life, dominated by the “time is limited’ mentality; it’s a race against time and we’re constantly falling behind. More than 150 years ago, a French philosopher and politician, Alexis de Tocqueville, made the following observation about our modern society’s interpretation of time:

“He who has set his heart exclusively upon the pursuit of worldly welfare is always in a hurry, for he has but a limited time at his disposal to reach, to grasp, and to enjoy it. The recollection of the shortness of life is a constant spur to him. Besides the good things that he possesses, he every instant fancies a thousand others that death will prevent him from trying if he does not try to get them soon. This thought fills him with anxiety, fear, and regret and keeps his mind in ceaseless trepidation, which leads him perpetually to change his plans and his abode.”

(source: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-different-cultures-understand-time-2014-5)

Tocqueville’s finding in the 19th century now rings truer than ever – that we are locked in this endless dance with death, constantly trying to beat it, avoid it, delay it, and constantly trying to cram everything into our “short” 75 or 80 years here on Earth. We are obsessed with “anti-aging” tactics and extending our lives so that we may be able to fit everything in – we are but a whirlwind of activity, intense emotion and rushing around until sickness, old age and the Holy Grail of life that is “retirement” causes us (or permits us) to finally slow down.

Morose? Yeah, a little. But is it true? I’d say so.

But what if I told you another side to the story – a story that isn’t as widespread and mainstream? What if we could embrace a new way of thinking that didn’t revolve around the “life is short” mindset, but instead challenged the notion that time is our enemy? What if I told you that instead of accepting the “whirlwind” way of being, we could embrace a peaceful existence and partake in what I like to call “rushless” living?

If we accepted the idea that we were infinite and actually had all the time in the world to accomplish the things we wanted to do, how would this change our day-to-day lives? Our relationships? Our overall attitude and approach toward life? Our career choices?

I challenge you to not just read these words – but to actually close your eyes and really try to put yourself in this mind-frame for a second – think about it. If you were, say, a vampire (yes, I have seen Twilight) for instance, what would you do differently, knowing that you had an infinite amount of time?

Would you spend an extra hour in bed with your lover, cuddling and talking instead of jumping up to try and get all your errands done before noon? Would you hesitate less to embark upon a career change, or learn a new skill, instead of saying “I’m too old to go back to school”, or “It’s too late for me to change my career”? Would you take a nice long walk through the countryside or a local park and truly stop and smell the roses, instead of limiting yourself to a 30-minute window for exercise and running back to your life before the timer is up? Would you spend time picking out local ingredients, washing and prepping them before preparing a delicious home-cooked meal for you and your family, instead of zooming through a Burger King drive-thru?

But in our lives, is it even possible to slow down and live “rushlessly”? It’s not like we can really stop time and be infinite, right? Well, while mainstream medicine, advertising and traditional belief systems say, “uh, no – we all die sooner rather than later, so we better make the most of our time”, there are many minds (including myself) who believe in an alternative approach to life.

Timelessness is in our DNA

Deepak Chopra, a revolutionary thinker and M.D., speaks often to this idea that time is not our enemy and that our own DNA holds the key to the longevity and ageless living we constantly seek.

In his book, Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul, he maintains that, “time isn’t your enemy. We can choose to stop giving in to time as if it ruled our lives.” He says that we can do this by shifting our attitudes about time and aging, and embracing the idea that the “mastery of time is built into you” in so that we can essentially reprogram our body so that it orchestrates time to our benefit.

I know, I know. What the heck does that even mean? Well, stay with me for a second . . .

While this is a hugely complex topic that I encourage you to explore more on your own if interested, basically what I believe Dr. Chopra is trying to say is that our body has the ability to live for a very long time if we live in such a way that allows this to happen, because DNA makes energy available forever (2 billion years and counting!). We can make time our ally by honoring our body’s natural rhythm instead of disrupting its internal clocks with the stressors of modern-day life; we can control time by choosing to evolve instead of entropy.

But how do we do this? How can we make choices that prevent the breakdown of our bodies? How can we allow our DNA and our body to do what it was born to do and innately manage time, and understand that “time only runs out when energy runs out”?

Well, the biggest thing we can do is try not to disrupt our bodily rhythms and natural functions by introducing too much stress into our lives. What are the culprits that stress out our body and lead to aging? Dr. Chopra breaks it down into six main categories:

Unpredictability (random events disrupting our lives, irregular schedules, etc.)
Disorder, confusion (a breakdown of external order and organization in our lives, i.e. financial troubles, unkempt living space, lack of purpose, etc.)
Accidents (mistakes in your life leading to mistakes in your body due to inattentiveness, a distracted mind and lack of focus)
Trauma, sickness (when wounded, your body loses its ability to keep track of time; refusing to pay attention to healing and guidelines for healthy living can bring unwanted trauma and sickness into your life)
Violence (exposure to external violence, or internally creating violence in the form of anger, rage, revenge or hostility, breaks down and disrupts normal daily life)
Chaos (living a life of chaos, whether that be via crime, domestic abuse, extreme disorganization or ‘going over the edge’ socially or mentally, can be majorly destructive to the body)

So now that we know what can disrupt the body and prevent us from realizing our body’s full potential to just keep on ticking, let’s get into some action items on how to reclaim our time.

How to Live “Rushlessly” and Make Time Your Ally

For starters, we have to make the conscious choice to try and adjust our mentality and try to incorporate new ways of “rushless” living into our daily lives. If you’ve decided that you’re fed up with being constantly told how short your life is and that you need to run around like a chicken with your head cut off every day in order to even have a slightly meaningful existence, and are instead ready to begin living a new, peaceful, loving existence, then you’re ready for these action items.

Organize your life. Get your finances in order, make your bed every day, keep yourself and your environment clean, and keep a tidy workspace. You’ll be surprised how much better and empowered you will feel once you can master these small organizational tasks.
Maintain some regularity. I realize that for some, chaos and unpredictability is the most exciting and invigorating thing in the world; however, if you are truly wanting to sync up with your body’s own intelligent and masterful clocks, it would be advantageous to at the very least maintain a fairly regular schedule and environment. Try to get to bed and wake up the same time every day, eat on a regular schedule, don’t constantly plunge into high-risk situations, and avoid drastic changes in your diet and activity; this isn’t a nod against changing or growing yourself, but is an encouragement to create a regular foundation for some basic aspects of your life so that your body and mind can stabilize and focus on more important things, rather than expending unnecessary energy trying to adapt to erratic behavior and irregular sleep patterns.
Rest, relax and play. Make time to slow down, let your body rest and regenerate, take your time on tasks instead of rushing through them, and set aside time to do things that energize and excite you, instead of constantly running from place-to-place, filling your life with anxiety and trepidation of “what’s next?”, and forcing yourself to stay in stressful situations (miserable job, unhealthy relationships, chaotic home environment, etc.) for longer than necessary. Life should be fun and relaxing! There is nothing keeping you where you are or forcing you to run yourself ragged other than the pressure you allow to be put on you – remember, whether you can believe it’s true or not – nobody can force you to do that which you are not willing.
Focus. Focus on what is in front of you. Do not try and multitask, because multitasking does not actually exist (read: The ONE Thing by Gary Keller); instead, it dilutes your attention and pulls it in different directions, causing confusion and counterproductiveness.
Live as if you had all the time in the world. Tap into that dimension where time cannot touch us. Enjoy the freedom of knowing we don’t have to rush around and that our DNA and our physical bodies are more than ready to support us on this mission. As Dr. Chopra says, “Immortality comes naturally; giving into time is what requires effort.”

I understand that realistically, we do live in a society that requires us to be somewhat productive with our lives, to meet our obligations and to make positive contributions to our workplace, family and personal life. Therefore, it may not be feasible to lay in bed all day Saturday while your children are missing soccer practice and the dog is peeing on the rug; I am merely challenging you to humor the idea that life can be different, that it can be “rushless”, that it can be less stressful and chaotic than we are conditioned to believe.

We can live longer, we can accomplish everything we set out to and we can be just as timeless as our two-billion-year-old DNA, but the answer does not lie in cosmetics, supplements, the latest fad diet, or expensive fitness programs – it lies within us; all we have to do is awaken ourselves, accept this new mindset and live in such a way that reduced stress and supports our body’s innate ability to be limitless.

“There is a place that is unaffected by time, like sitting on the solid riverbank to watch the constantly changing motion of a river. This place must be outside time, which means that in some way your body knows what it means to be timeless. Functional immortality was born here, in the awareness that time cannot touch us.”
– Deepak Chopra, M.D.

What do you think about the concept of “rushless” living? Do you think you could re-evaluate your relationship to time?