The world has changed. And it continues to change every day.
The pace at which we live our lives has also changed with that. The world keeps getting faster and faster with each day. Why this rush?
What about those who can’t adapt to this fast way of life? What about those who want to, and are happy to, live a slow life instead?
Does today’s world even allow you to live slowly? Is it even possible to live a slow life anywhere in today’s chaotic world?
To most extent it’s not. Try crossing a busy road at a slow pace and you’ll know what I mean. Try even driving slowly and the vehicles behind you will think that there is something wrong with you. Sometimes we just have to adapt to the pace of the world, and there is no other alternative to it.
But there is still something in your control – actually plenty of things in your control if you are willing to take a deeper look at your everyday life – that you can change as per your own choice.
And adjusting and changing the pace at which you live your life – to a great extent, if not fully – and how you are supposed to live your life is such a choice.
So while the world won’t change for you – it doesn’t changes for anyone – it’s up to you to live like the old ages.
While you can’t slow down time, or change the course of time, you can certainly slow down how you live your life every day. While you can’t change those activities that you need to do every day, you can certainly change the way you do those activities.
There are plenty of aspects about your life that you can change if you really do want to live like the old ages. Let me share few examples of how I myself do so in my everyday life.
Right now, I am sitting cross-legged on a thin mat on the floor and using an old style Indian writing desk to write this article. And how am I writing this article? By using an old-style ink pen and a notebook. And just like that I am able to write my articles the same way that our ancient Indian Sages used to write thousands of years ago. Granted there is some difference due to the use of an ink pen instead of some bird’s feather or a stick, and there is a notebook instead of some plant leaf or some other surface, but still it’s quite close to writing like those old times, and it’s equally peaceful, and also strangely, or maybe not so strangely, very pleasant and satisfying too, to write my articles this way.
And this is just one example. There are countless such examples which we can follow to live our life like the old times. I offer my prayers in the morning the same way people did it thousands of years ago. I water all the plants in our little garden using a pot like it was done in earlier times. I read physical copies of books every day just like our ancestors used to do. I sleep on a thin mat on the floor every day, just like many others once used to do.
I take a walk every day. I do all my household chores, such as getting groceries or vegetables, by taking a walk and by carrying all the stuff in a bag. I wash my clothes with my hands every day. I eat my food while sitting on the floor every day.
I can list several other such things if I think of it, but I think you get my point. There are several such places in our life, there are several such activities in our everyday life, where we can make changes and live our life the same way as was done thousands, or at least several hundreds, of years ago.
And it doesn’t have to be a strict rule. I myself break these rules as per the demand of the situation. For example, I can’t carry 50 or 100 kilo bags in my hands, and the rare times that I need to carry them home I take an auto or something. I eat on the dining table sometimes, especially if the meal needs to be taken along with guests. I lie down on the bed if I am elsewhere. I read plenty of things on my computer or phone because the internet too has its use and a place in our life.
My point is that we can still do plenty of things in the old way, every day, and if we need to, the modern technologies are always there to help us out. It’s not an either-or choice. Both can co-exist, and both can serve us; the old way when it makes more sense, and the modern way when it makes more sense.
Even if you do one activity every day as it was done in old times, you will notice the positive change that it brings in your life. Just take a walk every day(and don’t listen to any music or look at your phone while doing that); just journal in a notebook every day(not on your computer or any app); wash your clothes and dishes slowly using your hands(not using any machines); sit on the floor and eat your meal; read physical copies of books(not digital ones).
Do any such activity, do any of your favorite activities, like the old way. You don’t have to follow my list. Make your own list. Only you know what you’d love to do the old way. It could be making a sketch or painting; it could be writing a novel; it could be playing a music instrument; it could be gardening. Or it could be taking out a typewriter and typing on it – every activity need not be thousand year old.
The possibilities are endless. If you don’t believe me, take a look around. People are into all sorts of hobbies and activities these days that helps them to take a break from the modern way of life. There are people who even make their livelihood from offering something that’s made the old way in spite of existence of modern technologies.
People make pottery, they make paper, they make paintings or other objects of art, they make chairs and beds, they do farming, they make food, they make jewelry, they make clothes, they make purses and pouches and what not; there are tons of things out there, tons of exciting things even, that will bring happiness and peace and satisfaction to your life, if you do them the old way every day.
Figure out what it is, out of all such options, that works the best for you. The more such activities you do every day, the more you slow down in life while doing such activities, the more clarity you’ll gain about everything, and the more meaningful your life will look to you.
It’s easy to lose our way in this chaos of the modern world. It’s easy to look down upon doing things the old way when we are surrounded by the modern technologies all the time. It’s easy to be distracted all the time and don’t even have the time to ask ourselves the biggest and the most important questions in our life. It’s easy to waste our entire life in the pleasantries that the modern world and all its wonders offer us.
So, there is a need for us to take a much needed break from all this – if not for full-time, then at least for as much time as we can manage to do in our everyday life.
When the modern world fails to answer all your questions in life, it’s up to you to live like the old ages and find all the answers to them.
By slowing down in life, by doing one thing well instead of doing a hundred things poorly, by getting away from all the distractions of the modern world, by becoming meditative in doing a simple everyday task or our work, by living a simple and content life like the old ages, you begin to understand life in a different way, and that is my purpose behind writing this article – to make you aware of what beautiful things you are missing in life and to make you get back in touch with them once again.
I am not telling you to live like the old ages just for the sake of it, or to act rebelliously, or to make you feel that you are better than others, or for the sake of fashion(yes, old things can also, and often do, become fashionable), or to discover other ways to pass time or to please yourself or to enjoy your time. There is more to it than all that, or else I won’t be writing about it today.
Slowing down in life, living a simple life, are the very basics that you need to do so that you can understand the deeper meaning of life some day, the true meaning of life some day. It’s the very first step towards a long long journey, which only ends with enlightenment one day.
Finding joy with less, being happy even while doing the most mundane everyday tasks, being fully content with who you are and where you are, are the first steps towards a richer life.
It’s up to you to live like the old ages, so that you can stop living the superficial life that you live today, and live a life with its core values instead; live a life in sync with reality and nature; live a life with full truth; live a life with full meaning and purpose.
Make this choice today, because it’s this choice that will either lead you to, or take you further away from, being enlightened some day.
I hope you make the right choice.