Do you constantly feel overwhelmed?

Do you know the story of the Native American chief and the plane? Once upon a time, there lived a wise leader deeply tied to the traditions of his people who lived on the western plains. He was invited to attend a conference on the East Coast, vital to the future of his tribe. He had to arrive there quickly, at very short notice, and was forced to take a plane. He wasn’t looking forward to this.

Although the leader was amazed by the technology, soaring through the sky at unimaginable speeds, completely detached from the earth, troubled him deeply. When the plane landed, the leader disembarked and went straight to the conference venue. For three days he negotiated.

Once his business was finished, everyone expected him to return home immediately. Instead, the leader retreated to a hotel room, where he stayed for three weeks in deep meditation. When asked why he didn’t hurry home, he replied, “My body traveled too fast.” Now I have to wait for my soul to catch up.

Why is this story relevant? It illustrates a very modern, overwhelming condition. Jon Kabat-Zinn defines overwhelm as the all-too-common feeling that “our lives are somehow happening faster than the human nervous system and psyche can adequately handle.” The technologies we have created have given rise to an era where too much is happening too fast. Many of us face a constant sense of urgency and the feeling that there is simply too much going on in our lives. We feel less and less able to keep up with the pace and volume of events.

We could also say that our body and our psyche can no longer catch up. We run out of time to process, marinate, digest and think. As the poet John O’Donohue says in his beautiful poem “To the weary, a blessing.”

You have traveled too quickly on false ground;
Now your soul has come to take you back.

You were forced to enter empty time.
The desire that animated you has given up.
There’s nothing left to do now but rest
And patiently learn to receive you
You have given up in the rush of days.

Little by little, you will come back to yourself,
Having learned a new respect for your heart
And the joy that lives far away in slow time.