06 Jun The Importance Of Slowing Down And Taking A Daily Cup Of Mindfulness
After moving to Manitoba, I met a very nice woman who became a friend very quickly. We started hiking and taking trips together to some of the surrounding little towns she wanted to show me. She used to talk and do things very fast which sometimes made me nervous because I usually feel so connected and grounded, and it seemed to kick me out of balance.
During one of our little excursions, I couldn’t get enough of the beauty I saw, and I started to make her stop several times to take photos. At one point she said “I have been living here all my life without seeing all these amazing things you are pointing out to me. It almost seems I’ve been blind, and you gave me back my eyes. Thank you!” I smiled and said “All we have to do is slow down once in a while, take a deep breath and look around us with curiosity to fill our days with little miracles.”
I so often wondered, why are people so obsessed with speed?
In everything they do, they want to be quicker, more efficient and more productive.
They’re so hyper-focused on rushing through every part of our day that even a full minute of deep breathing might seem too long for some of them.
And yet, despite all this rushing around, they don’t seem to be accomplishing anything extra. Instead, they expose themselves to more tasks and ideas that they pay less attention to. They call it multi-tasking.
However, rushing around doesn’t help them do things better. If anything, it only increases their chances of being stressed and negatively affecting the people around them.
What our culture of speed needs is a sedative. Just a taste of something slow to calm us down and bring us back to a more human state of mind.
This sedative is called MINDFULNESS.
Mindfulness isn’t just about meditation, sitting cross-legged and chanting OM.
Have you ever noticed that when we stop rushing and slow down, we enjoy life more?
Things get more interesting. We worry less. We start caring for others. We make fewer mistakes because we’re more focused.
People who rush around all the time, are constantly stressed out, and their muscles become very tense. When this is the case, they probably experience other physical reactions to stress like headaches and migraines.
And while suffering the discomfort of a stress headache is bad enough, experiencing stress over a long period of time can be worse. Having a consistently elevated heart rate and higher levels of stress hormones may cause problems for the heart and blood vessels over time. Prolonged stress also increases the chances of having a stroke or heart attack.
While it’s true that being stressed in short bursts can be a healthy motivator, there needs to be an end to this stress in order for it to positively affect us. A good metaphor is the pendulum effect: When under a lot of pressure, the pendulum swings towards discomfort and stress; and then, when released and resolved, feeling relieved and relaxed swings the pendulum towards the positive end.
When you feel hurried or rushed, take a deep breath and just S.L.O.W. down.
S. — SELFAWARENESS à Catch yourself when are rushing.
L. — LIVE that moment à Stay present – Experience and focus on what’s in front of you.
O. — OPEN UP to your thoughts, emotions, beliefs without judging – Allow, Acknowledge, Let Pass
W. — Wait à Take a Break! Relax, Breathe, do a Mindfulness exercise, drink some water.
After a few minutes, if you’re feeling calm and unhurried, slowly move on to whatever else you need to do and enjoy that process as well.
Watch my YouTube videos on mindfulness, breathing exercises and the daily 10-minute break
And finally, I have some quotes for you to inspire you to slow down once in a while:
“Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.”
― Eddie Cantor
“Most people’s minds are almost always too busy for them to feel their skins being caressed by the wind or the sun.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”
― Lao Tzu
