Slow Living & Mindfulness in a Fast-Paced World

Mindfulness is a superpower.

Instead of having a busy life, you can have a fulfilling one.

A full calendar doesn’t necessarily mean you are living a full life. Slowing down is a choice open to all of us. No matter how much is on your plate, you can slow your life down in the simplest of things.

As individuals, we are becoming incredibly lonely, anxious and many are suffering from depression because of the stressful lives we live. This is brought about by our chaotic environment and so many other external factors. We need to learn how to slow down and in doing so develop techniques such as mindfulness and meditation to help us thrive in an otherwise chaotic world.

The Importance of Slow Living

What Slow Living is not is slowing down to a snail’s pace that isn’t productive in today’s fast-paced world. Slow living is a mindset. It is slowing down enough to go through your day with purpose. It is about disconnecting and being more present from the way you eat your meals, to how you work, how you spend your free time, and how you connect with the people around you.

How can you start Slow Living?

Create a mindfulness routine

Instead of having a busy life, you can have a fulfilling one. A full calendar doesn’t necessarily mean you are living a full life. Slowing down is a choice open to all of us. No matter how much is on your plate, you can slow your life down in the simplest of things.

Try simply taking the time to put all other distractions away when you make your morning coffee. Making your morning cup of coffee can become a relaxing ritual for you when done mindfully. Notice and focus on measuring the water carefully, slowly pouring your coffee into your cup, and inhaling the aroma before taking a sip. By doing this one thing in the morning with mindfulness and your complete attention can cause ripple effects throughout your day.

Allow yourself to experience boredom

Slow living is allowing yourself to experience boredom rather than filling your day with endless activities in order to feel busy or productive. By freeing up the non-essentials in your life, you are able to free up your time to be more. By only saying “yes” to your essentials, you can be more mindful in the present moment.

Practice digital detox

Apply digital minimalism and a digital detox in your life. You may say that your work demands that you are connected and can be reached 24/7, or your tasks are endless and you can’t even find five minutes out of your day to take a break. You can start by distinguishing between what’s in your control and what’s not. Focus on the things in your control, as well as those things outside of your control that you may be able to influence.

Make time for meaningful breaks

No matter how busy your day gets, make time for meaningful breaks. Whether it’s to drink a cup of water in between meetings, stand, and stretching after sitting in front of your computer for hours. Taking meaningful and mindful breaks helps refocus the mind.

Consciously slow down even with a jam-packed schedule

By planning out your day the night before, you get an overview of how your day would look and how busy your schedule is going to be. To plan ahead, you can try time-blocking in order to focus on one task at a time. Multi-tasking results in decreased productivity whether we do it intentionally or not. One way to avoid multi-tasking is by avoiding distractions. Close your email when you’re having a meeting, or close all the other tabs on your desktop and focus on one project at a time.

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Mindfulness and Slowing Down

Our guest in today’s IG Live sheds light on why mindfulness and slowing down is so important especially during these difficult times and how meditation is a powerful tool that we all can use.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHanow5n2n9/

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Take a step back from the daily grind. Remember that faster isn’t always better, whether that’s in your work, relationships, or your life. Stop trying to fast-forward through life. Instead, try to actually live it.

Self-Care During a Pandemic

In line with mindfulness, another essential element to living a better life is practicing self-care. Self-care during a global pandemic is a necessity.

Any traumatic event—from a personal tragedy to a global pandemic – can take a mental and emotional toll and cause traumatic stress.

Whether or not the traumatic event affected you directly or indirectly, it’s normal to feel anxious, scared, and uncertain. But we can’t let our traumatic experiences define us.

It’s important to remember that taking care of your own needs is not selfish, even in a time of crisis. Rather, it’s a necessity that we should all focus on.

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