17 Jul The quickest route is not always the best
Is happiness always doing things as fast and efficiently as possible? Is productivity and efficiency always the best path to happiness and success?
I think the answer is "no" and I'll try to explain why…
As regular readers of this blow would well be aware I'm a strong believer in the benefits of exercise and physical activity for health and happiness. The only problem is that like many people there aren't many forms of exercise I really enjoy (or can find time for).
The good news, however, is that there is one form of exercise I love and that's…walking.
And the even better news is that I can, quite often, build this exercise into my life so that it's part of what I do with my family and as part of my daily commute into work. You see I'm lucky enough to live about a 30-45 minute walk away from where I work and weather permitting I try, as often as I can, to walk into work. It's a great way to start the day, a form of meditation and obviously, a fantastic way to engage in incidental activity.
Now of late I've been in the habit of taking the shortest route into work. It saves me about 10-15 minutes and in many ways it's the easiest way to go. Today, because I was catching up with someone for a breakfast meeting, I went the longer way around and was reminded that…it's so much nicer!
At the same time as adding about 10 minutes to my journey this "longer way around" also adds considerably more beauty and time/space for contempation and pleasure and…a better cafe for coffee!
So I got to thinking, as I often do, about the lessons I could learn from this and came up with the following…
…just because something can be done faster or more efficiently doesn't always mean it's better. Sometimes the long way round is more fun and maybe even healthier for us. Maybe this is key to happiness? Knowing when to do things quickly and when to slow up and enjoy the ride?!?!
What do you think?
I'd love to know your thoughts and invite you to comment HERE on The Happiness Institute's Facebook page : )