TAKING TIME TO DO THINGS IN OUR LIVES LIKE COOKING, CLEANING OR PHYSICAL THERAPY CAN RESULT IN QUALITY OUTCOMES.
Doing things slowly helps with doing things well to get good results. It keeps us steady and safe. It challenges us to enjoy the moment, and not expect instant gratification. It helps us be mindful about what we are doing.
Some of my favorite meals require slow-cooking. I usually save them for Saturday when I have more time to wait for slow-cooked meals.
Two recipes in my top ten slow cooking recipes are: barbecued short ribs, and Hubert Humphrey’s Beef Soup. The ribs are easy-first the ribs are seasoned with a dry rub, and then a barbecue sauce is rubbed over the ribs. The ribs are cooked in a crockpot for five to seven hours on low setting. The beef soup recipe comes from the White House of Minnesota’s Governor Hubert Humphrey. Vegetables are added, and it simmers for three to five hours.
I thought my slow cooking recipes were like other things in life. Other things in life that need to be read slowly and mindfullyreading directions and emails, bills and local news.
I thought of all the health routines that help us feel better if we did not rush through them-brushing and flossing our teeth, not scarfing down food, or speeding up physical exercise.
I thought of my physical therapy (PT) journey. I had just done an out-patient round of muscle strengthening exercises.
While working with Jeanie Duby, PTA Concept Rehab and Therapy Program Manager at Rosary Care Center, reminded me while doing my routine that a key concept of PT is “slow and safe.”
Duby said, “We would much rather patients do exercises and stretching slower with better techniques so they can increase their endurance. Taking it slow can also make them less prone to any injury or strains. Slow is good during physical therapy because it increases quality versus quantity.”
For example, if a patient is walking a very long distance, but they’re unsafe with their walking, that’s not as important as if they are safely walking a shorter distance. If they concentrate on “slow and safe” walking, they can have much improved walking technique.
In our frenetic, fast food and fast paced culture, it’s good to remember it’s OK to be slow and safe.
Sister Karen Zielinski is the Director of Canticle Studio.
Canticle Studio is a part of the Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania, Ohio’s overall advancement effort and has a mission of being a creative center where artists generate works, products, and services in harmony with the mission of the Sisters St. Francis.
She can be reached at kzielins@sis tersosf.org or 419-824-3543. ✲
