The Do-More Man
Hello beloved readers,
Last weekend, I was blessed to teach a workshop in Washington D.C titled “Poetry as a Tool for Mental Wellness”. (If you’re part of a community that might benefit from this kind of workshop, whether in-person or virtual, send me an email!)
My aim was to use my own poems as springboards into conversations about how we might live with more ease, balance, joy and inner freedom.
I reflected on gratitude and self-compassion, living in integrity and resisting the pull of comparing one’s life to others. I read poems of encouragement and hope.
And I spoke to one particular idea that came to feel extra resonant just two days later, as New York City experienced a magical snow day. It was the idea that greater wellness often emerges from simply slowing down.
Many of us live in worlds that tend to move fast and that make us believe that there is no other way. That a life of constant doing and of constant busyness is our collective fate, rather than a choice we make.
As the snow came down on Monday and New York City paused for one precious day in its relentless movement, it was clearer to me than ever before that the speed in which we live our lives is self-imposed.
This poem is your friendly reminder this week that it’s okay to do less, to breathe deeper, and to move slower.
The Do-More Man
Last night, I met the Do-More Man
Whose work is never done,
For as soon as something’s wrapping up,
Five new things have begun
If he sent one billion emails
There would still be more to send;
If he wrote up a to-do list
There’s no way it would end
If he tried to take vacation,
He would still find things to do;
If he wrote a book, his brain would ask
“Why didn’t you write two?”
No matter what gets finished,
He always seems displeased,
Since from sixty seconds he believes
One hundred should be squeezed
He’s obsessive ‘bout the doing
It’s as if he cannot stop,
Like the simple act of being
Could cause this man to pop
It’s his choice to keep on moving
Live a life of tasks and plans
But the longer I live, the more I’d prefer
To hang with the Do-Less Man.
Wishing you a weekend of rest,
Ari
P.S
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