Can We Slow Down?

In this thought-provoking talk, explore the hidden costs of living in constant hurry—how speed shrinks our attention, dilutes our experiences, and distances us from what truly matters. Through personal stories and insights from teaching meditation, I’ll talk about how societal pressures condition us to equate speed with success, and why slowing down is the real rebellion.

You’ll leave with a simple but powerful invitation: to pause, breathe, and understand the depth that rush robs from life. Because when we stop racing, we finally start living.

Background Music Credit: Chris Collins

Transcript

Do you remember the exact moment you decided to rush through life?

When you chose to be quick,

Always in a hurry?

Or maybe a better question is,

Do you even remember who told you that you need to speed everything up to be successful?

Honestly,

I don't.

I cannot point to a single moment.

I just know that somehow this is how life turned out.

Fast,

Speedy,

Non-stop.

And when you are living like that,

When life is just one big race,

There is no time to sit and think about it,

Is there?

We are all so caught up in the cycle,

Rushing through everything,

Trying to save time,

Trying to be productive.

But all this speed comes with a price,

Of course.

Our attention spans are shrinking.

It's getting harder and harder to focus on anything for long.

Even the spiritual world is not immune to this rush.

We are sold quick fixes everywhere,

Even for our souls.

Everyone wants a five-minute meditation,

Because let's face it,

No one has time.

And I wonder,

Are we really meditating,

Or are we just checking it off our to-do list?

Like,

Yes,

I meditated today,

Done!

As a meditation teacher,

I always encourage people to start small.

Hoping that maybe those five minutes will someday grow into 15.

And let me tell you,

It is often very difficult for some people to take five minutes out of their busy lives to sit with themselves and meditate.

Where are we rushing to?

Why is it so hard to just slow down?

Life is not guaranteed.

So what are we really trying to achieve with all this speed?

This is not a lecture.

It's something I've been reflecting on myself.

I'm guilty of this speed too.

So I live in Karachi,

The city of lights in Pakistan.

It's a place that never sleeps,

Where life moves at this crazy fast pace.

We talk fast,

We move fast.

It's like our signature style.

It's like speed is the fuel that keeps the city running.

And honestly,

I was no different.

When I was in university,

I learned the hard way how this speed mode could sometimes backfire.

Let me tell you this story.

It happened during my final presentation for a statistical inference course.

My team had worked so hard to prepare a 60-minute research presentation.

Each of us had carefully planned our 12-minute part.

It was all set.

But just as we were about to present,

We were told that we only had 45 minutes in total.

It was the final presentation.

The pressure was intense.

We could not afford a single mistake.

In that moment,

I made a decision.

I made a decision to condense my 12-minute segment into just 5 minutes.

Thinking,

I am going to save the time for my teammates.

When it was my turn,

I delivered my part from the presentation at a lightning speed.

Honestly,

I felt pretty proud.

I thought I had nailed it.

The storytelling was strong,

The content was solid,

And the audience was engaged.

After I finished,

The professor looked at me and she said,

I loved your content.

But you went too fast.

You shouldn't have done that.

Speed,

Something I thought was my strength,

Had become my flaw in that moment.

And just like that,

We lost marks from final presentation.

No amount of explaining could change it.

I had been so focused on accommodating the clock,

I'd forgotten why we were there.

To share knowledge,

To connect,

To be present.

So in moving fast,

We tend to forget our real vision,

Our real purpose in life.

And a few years back,

After I graduated from my mindfulness meditation teacher training,

I started writing my own meditation scripts.

And you know what I realized?

Whenever I'm recording meditations for my socials,

I get recommendations from platforms that I use to keep the meditations shorter.

The analytics tell me that people search for short meditations because they want to be calm in a short period of time.

And for me,

Meditation is all about pause.

You pause,

You stay there in silence of mind and body.

As Ram Dass says,

Nothing to do,

Nowhere to be,

Just this moment.

Even the way I guide people to settle in takes more than five minutes.

Which feels like forever in a world looking for quick fixes.

And the other day,

While working on my social media content calendar,

I could not help but wonder,

How am I supposed to fit my style of meditation into the fast-paced lives of my audience?

So if you're facing a similar challenge,

And you're wondering what can I do?

Let me share what worked for me.

I had to teach myself how to enjoy stillness.

How to actually find pleasure in slowing down.

Now don't get me wrong,

It was not about literally walking slower,

Or moving at a snail's pace.

It was about finding a rhythm,

Where I could fully grasp what I was doing in each moment.

How I felt in different situations.

You know,

In trying to keep up with the fast-paced world,

There were days I did not even notice the clothes I wore the day before.

It felt like everything was just passing me by.

That's when I started training myself,

Bit by bit.

Every day,

I would take a moment to close my eyes,

And consciously think about what I was wearing.

Not by looking,

But just by remembering the small details,

The color,

The design,

The fabric.

It was a small exercise,

But it helped me create a sense of balance between the rush to keep up,

And the need to be mindful to slow down.

It was my way of connecting to the present.

I also began applying this sacred pause everywhere,

Not just in meditation,

But in how I work,

How I create,

And even measure my progress.

There were and still are challenges,

Of course.

In my professional field,

I watched peers collecting certifications after certifications.

There is this invisible pressure to keep up,

To prove my worth through titles and achievements.

And some days,

That old panic creeps in.

Should I be moving faster?

Am I falling behind?

But then I choose my anchor.

There is nowhere to go.

Life is happening now.

Just deeper into what matters.

So while others race ahead,

I understand that's their journey,

Perhaps a part of their life purpose.

I choose to root down.

To let each lesson fully integrate,

Before reaching for the next.

It's not about being slow for its own sake,

But about honoring the natural rhythm of growth.

I am at a point in my life where mastery in work is not a mountain to cross in record time.

It's a presence to cultivate,

One conscious step at a time.

So next time when you feel you are lagging behind,

Ask yourself whose lens are you using to look at your life?

When our minds are filled with too many thoughts,

When we are focused to make quick decisions,

It is easy to lose touch with the present moment.

We stumble,

And suddenly life feels like a race we did not sign up for.

And we all know what it's like to be in a rush.

That feeling of panic when you are running late,

Trying to finish something in time,

Or just counting down the hours until you can finally rest.

The world around us pushes us to move faster.

15-minute meals,

10-minute workouts,

Even 5-minute self-care routines.

It's like we are being told,

You can have it all,

As long as you do it quickly.

But when we move too fast,

We miss the moments that matter.

We forget to really taste our food,

To feel the ground beneath our feet,

Or to truly connect with the people around us.

Speed might help us check things off a list,

But it does not help us live.

I've learned that life is not about how much we can squeeze into a day.

It's about the depth we bring to each moment.

It's about slowing down enough to notice the little things.

The way sunlight filters through a window,

The sound of laughter,

Or the quiet calm of taking a deep breath.

So let's ask ourselves,

What are we rushing towards?

And what are we leaving behind in the process?

I know we rush towards many things.

Appointments,

Deadlines,

Life milestones.

And when we do,

We miss out on the present moment.

We move at a pace that never really allows us to be here.

And then we wonder where the days,

Weeks and months have gone.

The faster we try to go,

The more behind we feel.

We take shortcuts,

We get tired,

We get cranky.

So if you're still listening today,

I invite you to try something new.

Meditate without a timer.

Don't watch the clock.

If all you have is 5 minutes,

Take those 5 minutes fully.

Breathe as if you have nowhere to be.

Because in this moment,

You don't.

The emails can wait.

The to-do list is not going anywhere.

But this,

This chance to truly pause,

It's needed.

This is where real change begins.

Not in checking boxes,

But in dropping the need to rush altogether.

Do not measure your worth and how much you can accumulate.

But how deeply you can feel and experience life.