Customer Reviews

Take Your Time: Finding Balance in a Hurried World

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Read this book and you will discover some of the best ways to experience a more spiritual and selfless life. Sri Eknath Easwaran, the late founder of the Blue Mountain Center for Meditation in northern California, has developed an "eight-point program" of living, which includes daily meditation, reciting a mantram to bring balance to the mind, slowing down, putting others first, and other ways of enriching your life and the lives of those with whom you interact.

The author makes a point of emphasizing the distinction between slowing down and being lazy. There is a difference--we can slow our mind and still move quickly and efficiently. It's often when we try to do more than one thing at once that we run into problems with focus and concentration on the job at hand.

His suggestions, lively sense of humor and anecdotal style make this a highly readable and enjoyable book. I have found his suggestions to be quite effective in providing balance in my life and think that this small volume (and his other work) will be necessary reading in this day and age of road rage, school violence and unrestrained greed.

Other titles of Easwaran's are just as relevant--favorites of mine are Meditation (guide for learning to meditate), God Makes the Rivers to Flow (anthology of inspirational passages for meditation), The Compassionate Universe (ways of guarding the Earth for our children) and Conquest of Mind (expands on the eight-point program with new ways of considering it) and find them to be excellent as well. Another related title, bestseller The New Laurel's Kitchen Cookbook, was written by students and friends of Easwaran's, and originates from the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation. (written by Laurel Robertson, Carol Flinders and Brian Ruppenthal.)

This was the first book of Easwaran's that I read. I was expecting a normal time-management handbook - how to prioritise my busy life, how to step back from daily pressures and really organise my To Do list properly. But the opening words were "This is a book about slowing down..." How would that help? I needed to know how to get things done faster, not slow down!
Gradually, gently, through story after story, Easwaran shows that hurry and pressure are best handled by getting control of your own mind. The book is easy to read yet full of wisdom, and behind the the conversational style there are conclusions which impact you with real strength. This is a handbook on time-management but more than that it's a handbook on getting balance in your life, dealing with your relationships, and re-energising yourself.

I wish I had read this book 10 years ago. I came upon this author's name when looking at a list of suggested reading in Laurel's Kitchen, and I am so glad! Since I started reading this book I have been implementing the processes and learning how to slow down my thoughts, focus on one thing at a time, and (surprise!) reduce my stress level. Using these techniques has been more helpful than I could have imagined at reducing my stress at work/home & keeping me focused.

In order for this book to have a positive impact on you (as it did for me) you must be willing to have an open mind and give the techniques a chance. That is, you must implement the techniques for the book to make an impact on your life. For example, one of my favorite new habits is getting up a little earlier every day so that I have time to sit down & eat breakfast my husband, and still have time to NOT feel rushed in getting to work in the morning. I would not have started doing that if it weren't for reading this book.

On a more editorial note, Eknath is a captivating story-teller, and the book was a joy to read. I felt I wanted to read it slowly as every word seems to be carefully chosen, and I didn't want to miss anything good.

Anyway, if you are open to finding ways to slow down your mind & become more comfortable within yourself, please read this book!