Slowing Down
Hello - it’s me your break calling, will you answer?
Who doesn’t feel that their life is on steroids and that keeping up is just impossible most days? I catch myself repeatedly saying, “you need to take a break”. It doesn’t come easily, and I am my own boss! I work from home and can set my own schedule, yet, when I sit at my workstation, I get into this hammer mentality to produce and get stuff done. Yes, you need a work ethic, even if you are working from home, and especially if you are our own boss. But too much is too much.
You also need 7-9 hours of sleep a night to function optimally. One third of our lives is spent sleeping – or it should be! Sleep deprivation causes our hippocampus shrinks and thousands of neurons are unconnected, so information and memory storage decrease. (TED talk – TEDxDenHelder Sleep deprivation experiment) Some people get by on 5 or 6, but it is not sustainable, and is very damaging to health (Science of Sleep). You will become ill, forget things, and have a sullen mood because you are chronically tired. Your thoughts don’t have time to get sorted out at night. And you will wake up with a couple hours of filing to go… over time your memory and retention of information are lacking compared to those that get adequate sleep. “You will also wake yourself to death” says Dr. Michelle Olaithe in her TEDxMandurah talk on the Science of Sleep.
I recently got a puppy, and she reminds me to slow down. She needs my attention, and she is so stickin’ cute! I saw a post that said we (their owners or caretakers) are their best friend for their whole life, and they are a fraction of ours. They are totally dependent on us to help them through their day. My puppy helps me to reset priorities, take a midafternoon walk or a morning sniff around slowly and curiously checking out the neighborhood. She has helped me to take breaks, to slow down and to enjoy just being outside no matter the weather. I love nature, but if honest, it’s harder to get out when it’s an extreme temperature or inclement conditions.
“Overall, slowing down will help you make better decisions, connect deeper with people, have more meaningful experiences, all while improving your mental well-being by avoiding burnout. You may go slower, but you will go further.” – says Anne Laurie Le Cunff from Ness Labs wrote in an article called an ode to slowness – The Art of Slowing Down.
When you slow down, you allow yourselves to be more present. As a result, you can savor the moment instead of rushing through it. This intentional reduction of stimulus is intentional. It maybe starts with taking your hands off the keyboard and shutting your eyes and taking a deep breath.
I’ll go back to the example of my puppy; I know she is taking a break and intentionally stopping playing to rest when she lets out a big sigh breath. She relaxes and shuts her eyes for a moment. When she does that, she reminds me too intentionally slow down. I’m not going to drift off to sleep like she does, just give my eyes, my mind, and tasks a break. I push back and take a centering breath. I can quiet all the racing thoughts, the to-do list must wait, and I take a moment to check-in with myself. Do I need a stretch break? A walk? Water or just a moment of quiet and gratitude?
Intentionally slowing down is when you focus on speed, you may blindly follow a path that may not be the most efficient one to reach your goals — whether it’s a path dictated by others, or one that seems the most obvious. Slowing down allows us to be more intentional when making decisions and executing our plans. You can ask yourself, does this path lead to my goals? Is this supporting my values and beliefs or someone else’s? Is this path reinforcing the healthy lifestyle I choose to live or the path of impulsiveness?
Slowing down can help you to be more productive. You can take time to think through tasks and make better decisions. I think this is called daydreaming by some. It’s the opposite of working harder and nose to the grindstone thinking. Sometimes, we need to slow down for the idea to fall into place. Let your mind wander in the possibilities. Brainstorm ideas and let them marinade by slowing down.
Slowing down can help reduce anxiety. When you start feeling overwhelmed, and the fight or flight kicks in, evaluate the situation. Is this reaction warranted? Anxiety or the fight or flight response can be the signal to take a pause, and not go down the rabbit hole of what if’s… It is time to evaluate the “threat” is it true? Is it a lie I am believing? When I get anxious, I use my life verse Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” I seldom get through each thing God wants me to focus my mind on. My anxiety is calmed. Why? Cause I slowed down, took my thoughts captive, and focused on good things.
While speeding up can be the first and most natural response to stress, slowing down is often a much better way to manage anxiety. By recognizing your immediate reaction to speed up and deliberately making the decision to slow down instead, you can manage your anxiety effectively and foster an internal feeling of calm.
Contentment
Slowing down can also increase our quality. Being fast allows us to do more. But “doing more” does not equal “doing what’s best”. Doing things slower means we can increase the quality of the output, and even sometimes of the experience itself.
Would you design a more polished PowerPoint if you had two days, or if you had two weeks? Would you enjoy a landscape better if you are driving over the speed limit, or if you are taking a leisurely walk? Would you learn more about a friend if you had a quick chat, or a long conversation? Of course, you may not always have the luxury of slowness, but you should make a conscious effort to question artificial time constraints.
Slowing down gives us mental downtime. Consistent effort over time is more sustainable than pushing your limits to work as fast as possible. To do our best work, we need mental downtime, space for self-reflection, and a realistic schedule that can be repeated without burn-out, a meltdown or breakdown of health.
Slowing down can also make us more empathetic. “We learn to become more empathic when we slow down, become present, and are fully committed to understanding another person’s uniqueness.” Says clinical psychologist Arthur Ciaramicoli explains from his Book The Stress Solution.
Slowing down can help you make better decisions. Rushed thinking may lead to bad decisions. Slowing down allows us to be more deliberate when considering our options. As Eknath Easwaran, author of 40 books on spiritual living puts it: “By slowing down, we can train the mind to focus completely in the present. Then you will find that you can function well whatever the difficulties. That is what it means to be stress-proof: not avoiding stress but being at our best under pressure, calm, cool, and creative in the midst of the storm.” If you haven’t seen the Ted talk by Kelly McGonigal about making stress your BFF, please take time to watch it, it’s a game changer!
Slowing down can give you a more grateful thought pattern. You slow down and look at and think about all that is going well, everything that is good and everything that you currently have versus racing by your surroundings and life. Taking time to appreciate, give thanks and dwell on all that you are blessed for can change a hard day into a better one.
Slowing down can boost creativity. When you take time to be curious, really investigate and look at things from many angles it can help the creative juices flow. An idea can get sparked when you intentionally slow the thoughts down. The phrase, sleep on it can really work! You need time without the pressures to immediately process and collaborate with all your experiences and thoughts.
Slowing down can help you be content. You can enjoy life more and allow the simple experiences to refresh and revitalize you. The Danish call this a hygge lifestyle. They appreciate the cozy, the little things and incorporate them into their lives to intentionally recharge versus charge through a day, not seeing or experiencing anything simple. refreshing and restorative. The simple experiences of frost on a blade of grass, the peace quiet can bring, the rise and fall or your pet or child’s chest as they take a nap, the joy in a warm drink on a cold day or the cozy feeling your favorite slippers give you while working from home. Take time to feel content and give thanks for all you have.
Slowing down can help us prioritize the quality experiences in our lives. Instead of loading up on a coffee in the drive through and guzzling it for the caffeine boost, wake up 15 minutes earlier and enjoy your coffee at home, in a cozy place, enjoy the smell, and the mug. Maybe it’s a short time spent not rushing, or maybe with your spouse before your days separate. If you or your spouse value quality time, this is an easy way to grab some before you head out into the workday, or off to do an errand.
When you slow down, your soul fills. And you enter deeply into the gift that is our lives. And that's the paradox of slow: less becomes a catalyst for more. Less hurry and less busyness leads to a lifetime of moments more fully lived.
