31 Days of Slowing Down

Slow Living Practice of the Day: Limit Your To-Do List

 Keep your day to day goals realistic, attainable, and reasonable. Living slow means leaving room to breathe in your day.

Slow Living Practice of the Day: Be Patient

Savor the moments you have to wait by finding ways to enjoy them. A perfect example, is a pot of pour over coffee. The process of grinding the beans, letting the grounds bloom, then patiently pouring over the water as the coffee drips slow requires patience and time. It’s often easier to feel bothered by the waiting, our minds already focused on the next task we want to move onto. When we choose to focus on and enjoy the process with patience, we build an appreciation for the journey and work it takes for something to come into fruition.

Slow Living Practice of the Day: Stop Multitasking

Focus your efforts and attention on one thing at a time. There is an art to living slow, and it begins with immersing our attention fully on the task at hand.

Slow Living Practice of the Day: Do Everything With Joy

A slow living lifestyle encourages us to choose to enjoy life. Find the small joys in even the most menial everyday tasks.

Slow Living Practice of the Day: Give Your Undivided Attention

Although we are all so much more connected during this age of the internet, I sometimes I find myself less connected to those that are right there physically beside me. I’m so busy looking at my phone, that I’ve lost track of what someone is saying to me, or found myself scrolling my phone while watching a show with my fiancé, or answering a text or instagram comment while enjoying dinner with company. Not all of us (especially in these times) are able to be in the physical presence of our loved ones. If this is the case, by all means use technology to connect with them! Just make sure that when you are doing so, there are no other unintentional distractions, like glancing at your phone, running errands (if at all possible), or watching a movie you’re not watching together with them.

If you are in a position where you are able to interact physically with others, give them your full and undivided attention. Turn off your phone or put it away where it won’t bother you, turn off the TV, and turn your attention to enjoying your time with them. Have fun!

Slow Living Practice of the Day: Journal

We started our 31 Days of Slowing Down with a journaling practice, and today we’ll visit it again. Like our reading practice we’ll begin by removing electronics from the equation and write with a good old pen and paper. Write about things and hobbies you love, a good book you read, your loved ones, or anything else that resonates with what brings meaning and joy to your life. Or just journal about what’s on your mind (also known as stream of consciousness journaling) or what happened in your day. Gratitude journaling is also a wonderful way to appreciate all we’re blessed with. You can also use journaling as a manifestation technique using the law of attraction. To do this, you write while thinking and feeling as though you already have everything you ever wanted. If these ideas still leave you feeling stuck, a quick search for journaling prompts for mindfulness or self discovery will give you thousands of ideas! If you’re interested in learning more about the myriad benefits of journaling, check out Vanilla Papers, she has a wonderfully informative post.

Slow Living Practice of the Day: Thank Your Body

Are you kind to your body? I find myself sometimes being thankless and neglectful. Sometimes even downright unkind. Without our bodies we would not be able to experience life as we know it, and yet I certainly don’t thank it enough. Thanking our bodies starts with taking good care of it. Drinking water, eating well, exercising, having good posture, breathing deeply, resting and having a healthy love for our bodies.

Focus your day on loving your body. Eat well and drink water. Do yoga, stretch, dance, walk or your favorite form or exercise. Appreciate all that your body does by treating yourself to self care. A nap? A foot rub? A face mask? A scalp massage? How does that feel? In the western world today, it seems busyness and workaholism are revered. On the opposite end of the spectrum, those people that value rest, leisure, self care, are viewed as lazy or hedonistic. Rest, self care, and self love are as important to our health as exercise and eating healthy. Don’t forget to slow down and thank your body.

Slow Living Practice of the Day: Create a Peaceful Space

Our minds, conscious and subconscious, are sensitive to our environmental input. This includes the people we spend the most time with, the shows we watch on a regular basis, the type of reading we do, the places we spend our time, the music we listen to and even the clutter in our homes. While our digestive system processes the food we consume, our minds consume and process what we absorb from our environment. What is your home environment currently? How can you be intentional about your environment to favor a slow lifestyle?

By creating a less cluttered and aesthetically pleasing environment we can achieve a feeling of calm because our subconscious is not overwhelmed by things and the “to-do’s” that go with them. Many of us have to share a space with roommates, partners, or family. In my experience, I’ve found that speaking to them about creating a tranquil space and having a conversation about your similarities and differences in this area will allow you to create a space that is conducive to everyone’s preferences. This may be a long term project to work on, but for now, create a small space where you can relax. Then enjoy it!

Slow Living Practice of the Day: Make Something From Scratch

Cooking. Baking. Fairy house making. Woodworking. DIY cosmetic making. Crafting.Painting. Pickle making. Beer (or butterbeer) and kombucha brewing. Cocktail slinging. Clay crafting. Gardening. Bee-keeping. Jewelry making. Bookbinding. Candle making. And there are countless other make-from-scratch activities!

Harness your creativity and make something from scratch. The world we live in is full of convenience and speed but sometimes we forget the resources, thought, and time things require before they reach our hands. In making something from scratch, we can simultaneously appreciate what it takes to create something and also revel in the enjoyment of making. It’s impossible not to slow down when we use our hands to create and equally impossible not to feel accomplished afterward.

Slow Living Practice of the Day: Consider Saying Yes or Saying No

We’ve all experienced having too much on our plate. I’ve certainly hoped for miracles, filling my to-do list with too much then proceeded to scowl at the undiminished list at the end of the day feeling defeated, tired, and unhappy.

Meditate on the consequences of saying yes, and saying no. Knowing we have limited hours in our days, what do you say yes to? What do you say no to? When practicing slow living, we need to be intentional about the things we agree to make a part of our lives. What can be sacrificed and what is obligatory in your limited time on this earth? Slow living is about living with purpose and fulfillment. YOUR purpose and fulfillment, and not your friends’, Mom’s, or neighbors. What will you say yes? What will you cross off your list? What will you do with the time you’ve gained by saying no?