Moving fast is a social norm, but moving fast can be challenging for many of us.
In Nonviolent Communication, one practice is to slow down and recognize our feelings. This practice is hard for many people because slowing down is challenging. Running away from unpleasant feelings and thoughts is our human nature. Few people enjoy being in pain and frustration. Processing these feelings feels vulnerable, even frightening sometimes.
Like how we process our feelings, figuring out a problem worth solving also requires most of us to slow down (way down) and pay attention. When we miss out on the emotional side of the problem, we miss half of the human experiences that matter.
Slowing down is a helpful way to connect with the feelings (ours and the others) even when the social norm appears to be the opposite.
