I think I’ve told you guys before that Jeff and I love bad movies. Well, one of our favourite bad movies is called “Shooter” starring Mark Wahlberg.

You’re probably dying laughing and wondering. No, I’m not ashamed.

We love bad movies, it’s all good.

So in this particular bad movie, Mark Wahlberg is living in the woods in Montana and the secret service come seek him out to fake plan an assassination on the president – I hope I’m not selling it, you really don’t need to watch it ever, but! In this one scene, he’s setting up his sniper rifle and he says “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast”. It’s always sat with me, mostly because well you know, I’m not innately slow.

So this morning, the wind is blowing beautifully outside, the sun is shining and we’ve just had a picnic breakfast on the living room floor. After we bring our dishes into the kitchen I immediately start looking around at all the things that need to get done. Or maybe more correctly, that I feel need to get done. Dishes, laundry put away, beds made and life just generally tidied around the house. I started to do it but then I stopped myself. I looked over at Jeff and he was in no rush to do any of those things even though we share the responsibilities of the house. I decided to take my favourite Ojas boosting drink outside on our little deck and sit down in the sun. With the breeze on my face and my eyes closed towards the bright sun I just thought about that silly scene in the movie. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

I often rush around, priding myself in getting more done. These days, that usually means domestically. It’s like having a clean organized house with a kitchen not full of dishes allows me to feel accomplished. And then I thought of 90 year old me and I thought, would she want me to be constantly stressed about tiding a house that only the four of us are seeing right now? Or would she want me to sink into this chair a little bit more and take a deep breath?

Aggie was playing happily in the kitchen, Birdie was asleep in her bassinet and this space in time offered Jeff and I a spontaneous deck date in the glorious July sun.

The house is still (very) messy. The dishes are still not done. One kid has napped today and I’m choosing to write this with my tiny bit of free time. Because I feel like the message is clear and important.

Slow.

Slow in your living. Slow in your eating. Slow in your home. Slow in your bathing, your sipping, your breathing and your talking. Slow in your thinking because when we think slowly, things flow a little more clearly and then somehow as a result of that small shift, the jumble shifts into something legible. We can pick the next action from a place of calm.