A New Beginning

"We're living a rhythm that goes snap-snap-snap all the time----and it's there all the time, even when we don't notice it. Unconciously, like a poison ingested by our bodies in a deceptively sweet syrup, we have entrained with with a faster rhythm. It controls the way we walk, the way we speak, the way we respond to intimates and strangers, the way we don't relax....For the past hundred years or so, Western society has set an overly fast rhythm, a rhythm that varies only in that it is continually getting faster, urging us to do more, produce more, learn more. All our machines are geared to the acceleration of an already too-frantic speed. Computers, faxes, voice mail, E-mail, the Internet, cell phones: These are handy for business and sometimes convenient, but they each add to the speed of the rhythm around us constantly increasingly the pressure-----allowing us little time for reflection, and none for feelings"......Stephan Rechtschaffen, M.D.

Rhythm.....the rhythms of the body......since I quit teaching summer school over the past couple of years I have become increasingly self aware of the rhythms of my own body and the effects of living at "frantic speed" because unlike most folks I now actually have enough time off to experience a significant change in my body's rhythm due to the radical change of the pace of my life which occurs during the summer......Some observations......For the past two years I have ended the school year with a significant amount of back pain which has required multiple visits to chiropractors, doctors, and even a series of visits to a local acupuncturist. While each visit brought some temporarily relief it wasn't until two or three weeks after I stopped seeing the various doctors that the pain eventually subsided or went away completely.....armchair amateur medical self analysis......I have concluded that the pain subsided, in large part, because of the dramatic change of pace of life and the increased amount of exercise I get as I romp around on vacation each summer.....more observations.....every school year I start off the year in high spirits because my body, mind, and spirit has had time to rest and adjust to what I believe is the a more natural rhythm of life but by this time each year I begin to feel my body, mind, spirit, and soul breaking down as the stress mounts and the pace races faster and faster due to grading papers, meetings, lesson planning, and the additional pressures of meeting both state and federal educational standards. Since the school year has started I have probably gained some ten pounds and am at the point where I feel like I am on a run away train and I can't get off. Know the feeling? Feel the pain?
This yearI am determined, more than ever, to do something about the situation I find myself in. I have already made some minor changes which include cutting back on running around on the week-ends and staying at home more during the fall. I have also decided to revisit Stephan Rechtschaffen, M.D.'s excellent book "Timeshifting" and integrate some spiritual/meditative/psychological exercises and insights which I will talk more about in the days and weeks to follow......Points of frustration.....While I am optimistic that a person can change significantly inside and out I am also reminded by reality that we all to one degree or another live in a society and individual subcultures that don't seem too concerned about the unatural rhythms of life and frantic pace of life that prevent us from taking a hard look at ourselves, our society and the increasing stress related to the crash course we are all on. In other words, our challenge is more than individual because much of what I have identified is instutionalized on numerous fronts, IMHO......At this point I don't have many answers or suggestions for myself or the society at large but I suspect as individuals we may need to begin by slowing down and learning to live in the moment. I'll have more to say later but for now I'll leave with these thoughts from Stephan Rechtschaffen......"To be aware of time, we must develop new attitudes and new skills. This involves focusing on one thing at a time., learning to slow down and notice---really experience----our physical and emotional states. It involves reacquainting ourselves with our senses, our friends, our spouses, our children, and just what it is to be in this moment....If you feel your life rushing by, as though you can't keep up ieth all your obligations nad the demands upon you.....just stop! Begin with jsut a moment. Allow yourself to be aware and to feel in this moment. "