The Art of Slow Living
By The Petite Plantation - December 29, 2017
I think Slow Living is a lifestyle of completing the necessary everyday tasks in a slow, mindful and intentional way limiting stress and commitments to allow yourself to truly live and experience your life. The way we carry on in our lives these days is rushed, over scheduled with unnecessary burdens and with fast foods, fast cars and un-involved conversations, it isn't about to change.
Mindfulness is a certain way of paying attention that is healing, that is restorative, that is reminding you of who you actually are so that you don't wind up getting entrained into being a human doing rather than a human being. - John Kabat-Zinn
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I believe also believe Slow Living is an art, needing to be practiced and performed everyday because it is easy to fall back into the fast world conveniences. And although these changes require many difficult habits to break, "The price is high. The reward is great." -Maya Angelou. So, I must say, I am not an expert of Slow Living but rather a student learning to merge my Rustic Minimalist Lifestyle with a slow lifestyle.
Way to practice Slow Living
AVOID YOUR PHONE | It needs constant attention, doesn't it? All the notifications and badges to be turned off, lighting your room up through out the night and you can forget about spending just a single minute of Facebook. They know this too, they have worked hard to train you to stay on Facebook with relevant content. If you want to live slow and intentionally:
- Put the phone down.
- turn it off or charge it in another room at bedtime
- don't bring it to the breakfast or dinner table
- don't pick it up to check it randomly
- use it with a purpose or intention in mind and once completed, catch & stop yourself from scrolling, put the phone back down.
MORNING ROUTINE | Create a morning routine including a slow self care ritual. No more jumping out of bed, into the shower and out of the house. Take time to show your body and skin the love it deserves, choose a comfortable outfit and nourish your body with a healthy breakfast. If you need to, wake 15 minutes early. Take a look at my morning routine here.
EAT SLOW | Enjoy home cooked simple meals in silence with family around. Leave your phone away, and keep excess noise or other distractions to a minimum. Enjoy a meal with the ones you love most. This is not only better for your budget so you can work less hours, better for your body and better for your family bond.
SINGLE TASK | Quit multitasking. It puts you in a stressful frenzy leaving you feeling completely deflated. Instead, try single tasking or focusing on one task at a time until it is completed before moving on to the next. Setting intentions, and making a list of things you need to do on that day will help you stay focused on completing task. A great example of this in my home is laundry. While washing laundry, I sit with tea, watch the kids play with lego, or gaze out the window. I do not need to also be doing other tasks where my mind is jumping between my current task and the laundry.
MEDITATE | Taking time to sit in silence for 10 minutes to complete a Journal Challenge, meditate or simply watch the birds flutter through the sky and the wind rustle the leaves helps you connect to time, to your soul and helps you define who you are rather than being a human, just doing. This can also merge with the following.
WALK BAREFOOT | Uninterrupted contact with negatively charged earth can bring neutrality to your positively charged body. Walking barefoot is similar to absorbing antioxidants for free radicals to grab on to rather than our cells. You can read more about grounding here.
SAY NO | Remove a commitment for your schedule not because you want to become a slow introvert but because you don't want to be busy. You do not have to keep up with the Jones. Ask yourself, if your commitments are really serving you, are they more valuable than your time they are taking from your life. If they are not, say no.
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