Tai Chi | Tuesdays with Laurie

Feeling slower than a herd of turtles in a jar of peanut butter?

Driving home from the fitness center we passed a street sign I’d never seen before—Turtle Crossing. Well I’ll be darned! I wonder how long that’s been there? My thoughts quickly took me to the famous Aesop Fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare.”

Turtle Crossing by Laurie Buchanan

I have a lot of energy and unless I’m reading, writing, or doing tai chi, I tend to move at a pretty brisk clip. But I’ve noticed that when I slow down and do things at a more gentle pace, I don’t have the angst that oftentimes accompanies the hustle-and-bustle mode reminiscent of Lewis Carroll’s, “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.”

Driving along I’m pulling a Pooh and think, Think, THINKING. By the time we pull into the driveway, in my mind’s eye I can see the wise tortoise smiling at the hare and saying, “Slowly does it every time.”

What gear are you in today?

Listen with your heart,

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
— Laurie Buchanan

www.HolEssence.com

Last week a client asked me my thoughts on the difference between doing and being, and which one I feel is more important.

Doing is more active. Numerically speaking, the word “do” vibrates to number 1—the path of the leader. In my experience, leaders tend to be more outward; they stir things up. It’s in the act of doing that we serve others.

“Service is the rent we pay for living.” —Shirley Chisholm

Hit the ground running by Len Buchanan

Being is more passive. Numerically speaking the word “be” vibrates to the number 7—the path of the loner. In my experience, loners tend to be more inward; they’re reflective. When we listen in the quietness of being, we learn what to do.