Page 8
October 6, 1999
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BODY, M IN D . SPIRIT
Hyperculture
By Laura Chisholm, MEH.
Contributing Writer
I first experienced lif e ’s
speed while riding my red ba­
nana-seat bike Bradley Hill
for the first time. Trees and
houses whipped by me as I
struggled to maintain control.
I stepped hard on the coaster
brake, but the momentum I ’d
built up shot me far down the
road. When 1 finally rolled to
a halt, I felt exhilarated and
strangely drained.
Like kids on out-of-control
bicycles, most o f us live our
lives at a trem endous pace.
S tim u la tin g e x p e r ie n c e s ,
fast-talking advertisers, and
galaxies o f electronic in fo r­
m ation com pete for our a t­
tention everyw here we go.
Stephen Bertman, author of
H v p e rc u ltu re: The Human
Cost o f Speed, w rites that we
live at “a velocity that can
warp our behavior and our
most basic v alu es...a v elo c­
ity generated by our own in­
ner need and sustained by the
pow erful technology at our
touch, a velocity sanctioned
by a society com m itted to
speed.”
L iving a fast-p a c e d life
does have its advantages -
it’s often exciting, and we can
accom plish more, learn more,
and experience more than was
ever possible before. Yet we
who speed through life must
also pay a high price: the sac­
rifice o f quality for quantity.
B ecau se o f o u r v e lo c ity ,
m em orable m om ents stream
by us in a blur.
Overloaded by the quick-
dial phones and hypertext of
eur work environments, most
o f us feel rushed to accom ­
plish as much as possible in
the short time that’s left for
leisure. Meaningful relation­
ships evolve into hurried e-
snail exchanges, and we sub­
stitute once-savory meals for
fast-food breakfasts and mi­
crowave burritos.
The psychological effects
o f information overload can
be devastating. Many o f us
fe e l paralyzed by a ll the
a v a ila b le c h o ic e s . W e’re
numbed by the constant bom­
bardm ent o f so many a v a il­
able possib ilities and oppor­
tunities. When our lives are
so jam m ed that we c a n ’t af­
ford to stop, we often begin
to suffer a lack of m eaning in
life, a sense o f isolation, a
loss o f self. O ur re la tio n ­
ships, in turn, may d eterio ­
rate from a lack o f intim acy.
As Dr. Daniel K untz, author
o f Stopping: How To Be S till
When You Have To Keep Go­
ing, puts it, when w e’re bur­
dened with too much to do,
we change from human be­
ings to “ human d oings.”
Pam W ilson, child devel­
opm ent sp ecialist at Capitol
Hill E lem entary School in
Portland, expresses concern
a b o u t how s p e e d a ff e c ts
young people. “Our society
c o n tin u a lly d em an d s th a t
children keep learning m ore,
at younger ages. T hey’re o f­
ten not allow ed the luxury of
learning things at their own
pace, and are in creasingly
judged for what they are, not
who they are. This can create
anxiety; as a result, we are
seeing m ore psy ch o lo g ical
disorders in young people, in­
cluding d ep ressio n , ADHD
and
sch o o l
v i o le n c e .”
Bertm an agrees that the in­
creased speed o f life nega­
tively im pacts young people.
He w rites, “ A cceleration
corrupts the very m eaning o f
childhood. C hildren born in
a m icrow ave culture absorb
its tempo internally and “ m a­
tu re ” too fast, precociously
experim enting w ith behav­
iors ranging from spending
m oney to having sex, w hile
lacking the judgem ent that
only gradual m aturation can
p ro v id e .”
Dr. Kundtz suggests tak­
ing
ad v a n ta g e
of
“stillpoints” in life as simple
way o f applying the brakes
to an overpaced life. To ex ­
p e r ie n c e a s tillp o in t , he
writes, “Stop doing whatever
you ’re doing, sit or stand,
take a deep breath with your
eyes open or closed, focus
your attention inward, and
remember what you need to
rem em ber.” A ccording to
him, these moments can hap-
Photo Credit: Carlos Cervantes/
Straight Shooting
pen anyw here - under a full
m oon, in the show er, or in a
business m eeting.
Dr. Hill suggests placing
several “ tune in” rem inders
(she recom m ends little s e lf­
stick dots) in your home and
w ork en v iro n m en t to help
w ith s tillp o in ts . She says,
“ Every tim e you see a dot,
you take a deep breath and.
concentrate on releasing ten­
sion. I t ’s an easy h a b it to
lea rn , and very s e lf - r e in ­
fo rc in g .”
Taking tim e for stillp o in ts
is e n o rm o u sly im p o rta n t,
because they help to d isc o n ­
nect us from the peace o f
life and reco n n ect us w ith
life itse lf.
T hrough s tillp o in ts , we
becom e aw are o f the p re ­
cious d e ta ils o f our e x is t­
ence. T .S. E lio t c a tc h e s the
sp irit o f the e x e rc ise in his
Four Q uartets:
“Except for the point,the
still point.
There would be no dance,
And there is o n ly the
dance.”
Laura Chisholm , M .P.H .,
owns Chisholm Communica­
tion, a Portland-based w rit­
ing service sp ecializin g in
topics related to mind/body
health, w om en’s health, and
fitness.
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