Watch the journey scenery
This Easter weekend has been an opportunity to slow down my life and enjoy precious moments with my family. I cherish these moments where I just “am” and spontaneously do what I feel like doing. Life appears to regain its meaningfulness and my sense of connectedness arises. It reminds me this quote from Eddie Cantor:
“Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going to fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.”
It’s impossible to live in the moment without slowing down your life. Slow has a negative connotation in our preformance-based society. However, it’s a false assumption. Slowness nourishes calmness, patience, creativity, intuition, quality, reflexion and offers you an opportunity to simply be.
Slowing down our life is not just a metaphor it can actually be exercised every day.
“Always remember to slow down in life; live, breathe, and learn; take a look around you whenever you have time and never forget everything and every person that has the least place within your heart.” – Unknown
Simple ways to slow down your life
This list includes simple and time proven suggestions to slow down your life:
- The easiest way to do it is to slow down your body movements and shift your attention from your mind to your breathing or any part of your body for few minutes. It can be easily practiced at work or in any environments.
- Take a 5-10 minute break every hour and start by slowing down your movements, as explained earlier, then breathe and relax.
- Practice 5-10 minute meditation breaks during the day.
- Spend regularly some time in the nature. Have a walk in the mountains, in the forest or walk on the beach. Exposure to nature increases attention capacity, positive emotions, and self-connectedness.
- Take the habit to do one task at a time and focus all your attention on the process. Multitasking is unproductive and has clearly shown its limits.
- Reconnect with yourself by spending some time alone. Solitude is an opportunity to learn about yourself and develop self-connectedness.
- Regularly allow yourself to do nothing and simply be. It may be difficult for over active people at the beginning, but it is really helpful in this process.
Slow down your life to gently reclaim the joy of the present moment. Living in the now is your most precious asset!
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Man, I wish I could slow down, but I can’t – I simply can’t.
I’m what Germans call a Zappelphillip – a guy that can’t hold still and always has to do something !
I have even tried meditation – but it has proven useless to me.
However, I can totally relate to that;
“Take the habit to do one task at a time and focus all your attention on the process.”
Multi-tasking is useless, even for women, contrary to what people say.
Just focus on one thing, and one thing only, and then say NEXT.
Works perfectly !
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I completely agree, and I appreciate the quotes and insights here, Steve.
When you slow down your life, you free yourself from unnecessary worries, become calm and cheerful, full of love and peace, and more productive. If we can only keep that constantly in mind.
Hey Zappelphillip
I know what you mean. When I wrote this post, I wrote it for me too; because sometimes I forget about it. I learned to slown down my life, to be more focused and enjoy each second of the trip. It has transformed the way I focus my personal energy and the results I get from my actions.
HI Steve,
On eo fmy life lessons, is to slow down and appreciate the present moment. I am learning this gradually as time progresses. I agree with Melisa, when we slow down worry really starts to diminish, and we wonder why it was ever there in the first place.
Nicely done article.
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Baker,
Thanks for your comment. Although it’s a simple concept, putting it into practice is sometimes difficult. Go easy on yourself, change is a life adventure;
we can learn about ourselves when walking the path.
Very true.