Learning to Embrace Slow Living and Focus on What Matters
Nowadays, everything seems to be moving at hyperspeed, and you just can’t catch up. It feels like there is never time to do anything meaningful and worthwhile. When you do slow down, it feels wrong and like you’re wasting precious time that you should be spending doing more productive things, like working.
This is my experience, too, but now I am trying to embrace a slower life—a more meaningful life that allows me to focus on what is important to me. Slow living may seem unproductive and boring, but I think it is a life that focuses on being present, grateful, and taking actions that align with our values.
My YouTube feed is full of slow-living vlogs that show women reading, sipping tea, being in nature, and living simply, but slow-living is more than that. I feel that it is more of a mindset that is personified through simple actions such as sipping tea and reading books.
Let me elaborate, slow living is about living intentionally. Intentionally about how we spend our time and who we spend it with. Slow living doesn’t mean we never work or are never productive. It just means we put more thought into what and why we are doing something and note what behaviors, actions, and thoughts are not serving us anymore. I mean, why do you think Cottagecore took off so much? It’s because it creates this story of a peaceful life that is free and ours to do what lights us up.
Of course, reading books, picking berries, spending time in nature, and having tea parties sounds ideal for everyday life, but cottagecore and slow living in real life look like more intentional thoughts, actions, and behaviors that reflect our core values and need for connection. Connection with self, connection with others and connection with nature.
Moreover, slow living is about being intentional, having core values, and connecting, which we can all agree we need more of or at least more understanding of. So, how can we embrace slow living in our modern lives?
1. Shift Your Mundane Routines to Rituals
By shifting your routines to rituals, you embrace presence and the now. Routines are more process-driven and have an attitude of, “Let’s get this done,” while rituals are more purpose-driven; there is a why behind the behavior/s. Adding more presence can make mundane activities more fulfilling and meaningful. Check out my blog and video on routines and rituals below.
2. Get Clear on Your Core Values and Align Your Daily Life Around Those Values
By clarifying your core values, you can begin to shape your day and life around these values and take intentional action around what’s important. By taking intentional action and being more aware of the reasoning behind your behaviors, you can begin to embrace a slow-living mindset of presence.
3. Bring More Attention and Presence Into Your Daily Behaviors
Like rituals, you can begin to bring more attention and presence into your daily activities. By taking time to be in the now, you can begin to slow down and focus on what is important.
4. Choose and Act on the Connection/s You Want in Your Life
By acting on the connections you want in your life with self, people, and nature, you can begin to slow down and connect with what is important. When you connect with your loved ones, you remember that we are human and that the human experience is meant to be enjoyed with those you love.
5. Practice Gratitude
By embracing and practicing gratitude, you allow ourselves to slow down and focus on what works in your life. Gratitude also allows you to be more mindful of the stories you play in your head about your life. As you continue to practice gratitude, you will see more things to be grateful for and slow your mind down to focus on what is important.
6. Spend Time in Nature
When you spend time in nature, you begin to breathe and find ease in your body. You can begin to note the color of the leaves and the way the trees dance in the wind. Being in nature brings slow living into your life with a gentle reminder—a gentle reminder that we are all connected and that we, too, can dance in the wind like the trees.
7. Heal Your Inner Wounds
Beginning to heal your inner wounds and heal trauma, especially with a therapist or other licensed professional, can be helpful in embracing slow living. Healing your inner wounds can help you embrace a slower life because you can begin to let go of emotions, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that do not serve you, like lack of self-worth around productivity and perfectionism and lack of confidence and high-functioning anxiety. By taking the time to heal, you can begin to hear your inner voice and inner knowing, which takes slowing down to really do. By healing, you begin to free your mind up for other things, too, like hobbies, interests, and spending time with loved ones.
8. Make Space for Your Emotions
By making space for your emotions, you begin to take a step back and slow down. You begin to listen and observe instead of always being on the go and worrying about the next thing. When you allow ourselves to feel uncomfortable emotions, you give yourself grace and compassion, which takes slowing down. When you feel more grace and compassion for yourself, you can be more present in your daily life for yourself and others.
9. Learn About Yourself and The World Around You
By learning about yourself and the world around you, you put some space between your immediate and perceived reality and a new reality and perspective. Learning helps you expand your mind to new places that you would otherwise not know of, which helps to bring presence, fun, and more confidence in our own reality, which, in my opinion, is slow living. Learning something new can also be an intentional act that brings about a mindset of discovery and awe in your daily life as nature does for us.
10. Practice Radical Acceptance
Practicing radical acceptance of yourself, your emotions, and your reality requires mindfulness, presence, connection, compassion, curiosity, and discovery, which aligns with what slow living is all about. Radical acceptance is truly an amazing practice that I recommend anyone try. If you are interested in more, check out the book Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach, PhD.
11. Practice Self-Forgiveness
Like self-acceptance, practicing self-forgiveness requires being present, compassion, curiosity, and connection with oneself. When you practice self-forgiveness, you must slow down within and take the time to forgive yourself for past hurts and pains. If you want to learn more about self-forgiveness and engaging in a daily practice, check out my course, The Compassionate Yogi Program, below.
12. Find and Embrace Community
Lastly, finding and embracing your community allows you to make intentional and fulfilling connections with others. By being around safe and peaceful people, you can begin to bring mindfulness and slowness into your mind and daily life. Connecting with others in a community can also help you better connect with yourself by helping you on your self-growth and healing journey. Check out my blog about community and healing HERE
13. Wrapping It Up
To wrap things up today, I want you to imagine a world where everyone practiced and valued these things. Imagine that society valued connection over competition and being genuine over caring what people think of us. We would feel more fulfilled, loved and connected to ourselves, others and the world around us. This is the magic of slow living. Slow living is about living with intention, presence and connection. It’s about loving self, loving others and loving the earth. The slow living movement may actually change this world for the better. Thanks for reading and I send love and peace your way!
14. Extras
One of the biggest factors in finding where you belong and starting your journey toward slow living is aligning with your true self and values. Even if you aren’t ready to completely dive into slow living today, I have something that will help you get more clear on what is important to you so you can begin to live more intentionally, feel empowered and motivated about creating your dream life, and be more mindful of what is going on within.
Get my FREE Mindfulness workbook, Realign Mindfulness! Use the form below to get INSTANT access to this life-changing workbook and begin creating an empowering mindset for success.
REALIGN MINDFULLNESS WORKBOOK
Related Posts:
Healing Through Connection: How Community Empowers Your Self-Growth and Inner Healing Journey
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