Slowing Down Life

Slowing Down Life!

Slowing down life! Is it possible in such a fast flowing time?

With so much to do, so many places to go!

So many people to please!

Is it possible to slow down time while running breathlessly?

Selma had put the tea in the cup, but she couldn't drink it as usual. "It's cold again!" she said angrily. She looked at the clock, she had better put the clothes in their places before she left. Everything was everywhere. "How can this house be so messy so quickly!" she thought.

She had lots of errands to run. She was going to go shopping, visit her mother to make her happy... Because if she doesn't visit her for two days, she would get upset. She has to stop by her children's school to speak with their teachers… and of course she can’t forget to cook dinner. "Oh, one doesn't like what the other eats, the other doesn't like what the other eats!" she said.

Most of the time she felt like she was on a treadmill. "How does everyone keep up with everything? All this running around and nothing to show for it! And you still can't make anyone happy."

She was halfway through the day when she knocked on her mother's door. Her mother was sitting comfortably on the sofa watching the news. On the news there were people running around, just like her. Who and what were we catching up to?

- Mum, what are we catching up to? she asked helplesly.

- What happened, do you have somewhere to go? Did you just came to say hi?

- Oh mum... I wish we had time to be together all day, but I can't catch up to anything.

- What is wrong? You are all over the place. In our time there weren't this many household appliances and machines to help us, but I used to get everything done. I even found time for lacemaking.

- My dear mother, how did you have time to do all that stuff? We talked to Hüsnü yesterday and he said, "Don't look at the old times, there was no technology then and life was not so fast. We have to keep up with that speed." I don't know, do you think this much speed is necessary? I often think, "What good does it bring?

- Of course, it has more harm than benefits. You run after very unnecessary things and don’t simplify your life. You run without knowing what you're doing and why you're doing the things you’re doing. Look at the news, no one thinks about what they’re doing. Real news are brushed over. No one cares about children getting murdered or homeless people. We were not like this, we didn't have as many opportunities as you did, but we were happy. Now everyone is angry, everyone is unhappy.

- But why is it like this?

- I don't know, you live like everyone else do, that's the way it is.

"Like everyone else!" I guess that was the magic word. Could something be right just because everyone else is doing it? Or just because it was normalized? Was it right or necessary? There were so many untrue sentences in life that started with "in these times..."

● In these times you can’t even buy a house without a mortgage.

● Is it possible to do politics without lying? Not in these times.

● Is there anyone doing honest business in these times?

● In these times, no child does housework.

● In these times, everyone works hard, no one wants to spend time on housework.

● No one gets through school without having a private tutor in these times.

● Is there a spouse who does not cheat in these times?

● Is there a house without a television in these times?

● Video gaming is part of our lives in these days?

In these times, in these times... Everyone accepted these as truth, but was it right? We become unresponsive to what we normalize. Contrary to that, we are responsive to the things we don't come across very often, that is, to the things that are abnormal.

The Experiential Design Teaching says: "One should design their reactions  according to right and wrong."

Right and wrong do not change from person to person. There is no "era" of right and wrong. Lying is wrong in every era, interest, deception is always wrong. It doesn't become right when people do it, and it should not be something to be ignored. So, which wrongs have we normalized and are unresponsive to? Or what do we take into our lives that are normalized? Are our must-haves really a necessity? Can we live without these things? Maybe they are not so necessary. If only we could review our lives. If only we could realize that the cause of all our problems is to act without thinking thoroughly.  If only we could see the damage that living by rote does to us.

What are the things that we do just because everyone else does it? What do we buy just because everyone else has it?

When we burden ourselves with so many things, can we carry anything else in life?

What are we missing out on when we try to catch up?

While thinking about these things, her mother said, "If you had time, we would visit your father's grave. We haven't been there for a long time." Selma hesitated for a moment. "Come on mum, get dressed and let's go visit dad. We’ll buy some ice cream on the way back." Her mum was surprised. "But do you have dinner ready for tonight?" she asked. Selma said, "Let them have eggs with potatoes tonight."

The more people think and examine life, the more they gain the opportunity to react and answer closer to the truth.

People want to do whatever they normalize and set their minds to. However, they need to find out why they want what they want. They say, “If you run after two hares you will catch neither”. Sometimes people try to catch dozens of hares. If we want to slow down life, we need to know exactly what we want and why we want it.

 Experiential Design Teaching is a knowledge community that produces strategies for designing our future based on past experiences.

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"There is only one thing in life that never can be discovered; The better one..."

Yahya Hamurcu