Relax, what's the big hurry?

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Hurry seems to be the peculiar disease of our time. Machines are being invented every day to do work faster and faster. The fastest computers perform thousands of operations every second. Supersonic jets carry us from one place to another at speeds greater than the speed of sound. Communication networks transmit information at tremendous speeds across continents, via satellites stationed far above the earth. As they say, we have communication @ the speed of thought! But where are we going in such a hurry? Where are we all running to? Or rather, what are we all running away from? The truth is, we are running towards and running away from. We are driven by two equally compelling reasons: Greed and Fear. Greed tells us: there is no time! In the span of sixty or seventy years granted to you, you need to live out so many desires! You need to possess the maximum number of things, you need to taste the maximum number of experiences. You need to live life with a vengeance! But physically, there is a limit to what we can do in one day. We can only be in one place at a time. So we begin to live part of our lives cerebrally with our minds. This is the latest way of living our lives! Cerebral enjoyment is nothing but enjoying without really enjoying. The software engineer working till 3 or 4 a.m. in his office in the city is sure to have on his computer desktop a beautiful picture of mountains or a beach! And greed is not the only reason! For many of us, it is also because we are afraid to stop. Fear is a major reason why we cling so much to the outer flow of life. Hurrying is a way of escaping from ourselves! To stop, to stand still for a moment, is to encounter our deepest selves. It is to come face to face with the silence and stillness inside. For minds accustomed to the constant din of the outside world, encountering this silence can be a terrifying experience. Seriously, how many of us have the courage to face ourselves? To look inward is to run the risk of discovering that after running and running; we haven't moved at all. Just for a moment, turn around and see clearly how you have led your life in the past five years. How often have you given up doing things that you really wanted to do simply because there was no time? Was all the running worth it? Understand, I don't mean that it is alright to lead our lives in philosophical lethargy - the custom in the East! It does not mean postponing life. It is not possible to live only in the present, ignoring the future altogether. Every day, we are called upon to take action, make decisions. We have to live with deadlines. We have to think ahead, fulfill our dreams. Certainly, you should plan for tomorrow. But don't forget to live today!