You wouldn't guess it,
But a sloth can move quite fast.
When a river cuts through its path,
It can swim way faster than it ever moves on land.
The speed is there.
It's just not spent on things that don't need it.
So most of the time,
A sloth barely moves at all.
It moves so slowly that algae actually grows in its fur.
Turning it green.
Camouflaging it in the canopy.
That green coat becomes its own tiny little ecosystem.
Moths live in it,
And some species even lay their eggs there.
In some traditions.
That kind of stillness got a name.
Slothfulness.
One of the seven deadly sins.
Laziness.
A failure to keep moving.
Let's look at what actually happens in that slowness.
Nothing rots.
Nothing wastes away.
Whole ecosystem takes root exactly because nothing rushed it out.
Slowness isn't a failure.
What if it's how something gets the room that it needs to grow?
Let's borrow some of the sloth's pace for a few moments.
I invite you to get as comfortable as you can.
Settle into whatever is holding you right now.
Whether it's the chair,
Your bed.
Or the ground.
You're completely safe.
There's nowhere you need to be.
Except right here.
I invite you to begin by just noticing your breath.
Exactly as it is.
Don't change it yet.
Just notice it.
What is the pace of it?
Where do you feel it?
Maybe in your chest.
Maybe lower in your belly.
Can you feel the temperature in your nostrils?
The coolness of the inhale.
And the warmth of the exhale.
If your mind is busy right now.
That's okay.
Just notice that too.
Become aware of the busyness of your mind in the same way.
As you're noticing your breath.
There's no judgment here.
We're not fighting it.
We're just aware that it's there.
Now,
As you become ready.
Let's slow things down.
We're going to breathe in slowly,
Filling up more than usual.
And then let it out even slower than that.
I'll give you a count to guide you here.
Inhale for one… 3 four,
Exhale for 7,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1.
To 1.
Inhale for one.
2 3.
4 Exhale for seven.
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two.
One.
Continue at your own pace for three more breaths.
Let's go one more time together.
A long inhale.
Four.
1,
And then exhale for one.
Five,
Six,
Seven.
Can you do the same thing with your mind?
Can you stem a racing thought by letting it Linger on one image.
Or one sound.
For a longer count.
Matching your breath.
Slowing things down.
Most of our days runs on clocks that aren't exactly ours.
There are notifications and deadlines.
The sense that if you slow down.
Something will be waiting on the other side.
Something that needs to be caught up on or something that you'll pay for later.
Our sloth friend doesn't carry that.
It isn't worried about something it will miss.
As it moves intentionally.
Slowly.
It's slow because.
.
.
There's no urgency to hurry.
And that's simply its speed.
There's nothing chasing it that it needs to outrun.
Nothing is waiting that it needs to hurry toward.
For some of us,
There's an uncertainty.
In moving that slowly.
There's a not knowing.
That can create.
Some feelings of anxiety.
And yet,
When we look at this law,
We see none of that.
We see a creature.
Meant to be in the exact place.
Where it is in the present moment.
I invite you to see if you can let a little of that in.
Where there is uncertainty for you right now,
Maybe you don't have an answer for it yet.
But that's okay.
You don't have to have an answer.
Feel your surroundings.
Stay in the moment.
Slow your breath.
Feel secure now.
Remember,
That speed you need,
It's there for you,
Whenever it's actually called for.
Slowing down now.
Doesn't mean losing your edge.
It means saving.
For what?
Is real.
And when it's called for.
The ecosystem that grows in the sloth's fur didn't happen overnight,
It happened gradually as a natural outpouring.
Of the sloth's speed.
The moths weren't in a hurry to build their nests and lay their eggs.
Until the environment was just right.
I invite you to consider.
Is there somewhere or something in your life right now that's asking for that kind of slowness?
Not to be forced or finished.
Just given room to grow.
At its own pace.
I invite you.
For a quiet moment of reflection here.
What can grow out of the slow,
Unhurried parts of your life.
That might turn out to be more.
Than you ever expected.
As we begin to come back.
Let's take a moment to be thankful for our friend the sloth.
For showing us how to move slowly.
In a world that never asks it to.
For the reminder.
That stillness.
Isn't emptiness.
It's room to grow.
Now I invite you to start bringing your attention back into the space around you.
Notice the surface beneath you.
Maybe wiggle your toes and your fingers.
Take a long,
Luxurious stretch.
Take one more long,
Slow breath in your own time.
And when you're ready Open your eyes.
And come back into the room.
