Take 5, Slow-Down, & Feel Smarter and Less Stressed

Sometimes it takes a literal slow-down to put life in perspective and frankly make it worth while to endure until bedtime. Since it is close to 5pm, and bedtime is no where near the horizon, though soccer practice & dinner are...my goal in sharing is not to put you to sleep, but to slow-down for a few moments and contemplate the basic beauties of the world, and your life. 

I caught this segment after elementary school running club yesterday, where I cheered & chased, but did not fit in a run. NPR blogger Adam Frank takes on an unpretentious voice with a quirk of humor to share his scientific insight into this much needed momentary slow-down. In How to See the World in a Grain of Sand he starts by saying: 


"More than two centuries ago, the great poet William Blake offered the world the most extraordinary of possibilities:

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour.

Yeah, that would be nice.
Unfortunately, most of us don't know how to hold eternity in the palm of our hands. In fact, most of us feel lucky if we can just hold it together until the end of the day. The problem, of course, is that mostly we've lost our minds. And I mean that literally. Our attention is endlessly lost in the endless blur of appointments, to-do lists, worry, concern and agitation that makes up modern life.
Sometimes, however, for the briefest moment, we do pick up a scent that there is something more going on than this daily round of survival. But those moments pass and waves of mundane urgency swallow us again. Tumbling through the chaos of our day-to-days, we wonder if Blake's vision of a broader, more expansive experience is nothing more than a poet's fancy. Can we really see the Universe in a grain of sand, even as we slog through traffic? Can we really hold infinity in our hands, even as we drop off the kids to violin practice?
The answer, I believe, is "yes."

Well instead of a grain of sand, I'm giving you a few moments of a video produced by my fabulous cousin, personal family photographer, the talented director Jacob Schwarz. It is a visual slow-down treat for an artist and anyone looking to be calmly captivated. Breath, & take 5.