Yes, I seriously misread a WhatsApp Message from a friend about ‘Peacemakers’ and yet, in an instant, there was the spark for this blog.

Have you noticed that people around you go at a different pace? If you exaggerated it, it would probably look like a sketch from Monty Python on “The Ministry of Silly Walks.” [For the insatiably curious, and the charmingly nostalgic amongst us: https://bit.ly/The-Ministry-of-Silly-Walks ]

That pace is very often provoked by a purpose. Par example, you can usually spot the person who is ‘on a mission’. They set a determined pace with an expression to match. I work in Swanage where we have a rash of welcome tourists throughout the holiday season. They can be identified when crossing the road by the absence of road sense - feeling at liberty to meander across the road at any moment – no signals. Keeps me alert. 

OK, serious point? We all move at different paces during different phases of our lives. It’s certainly also true that we set a different pace when we’re on holiday to the pace we would set on a working day. Conflict may be avoided by matching the pace of the people around you. Remember those moments when an irate toddler goes on a ‘go slow’ in conflict with the busy parent?

I may be mad, but I felt this was a specific message for someone reading the Moodscope blog. The message is, “change your pace to match your new situation and the people around you.” If you don’t, you’ll clash and that can have a detrimental effect on your health.

If that’s not a message for you, specifically, I think you’ll still find it fascinating to pay conscious attention to the way different folks speak, and move, at varying rates! You’ll spot the ones that are in harmony with one another… and those who are not so!

Lex

A Moodscope member