Take Time to Smell the Roses – Be Slow

How often do we cringe when someone says to us ‘slow down’?!  Well – this week that is exactly my focus.  

If you read my recent blog post about being deep in your do-do, you’ll know that I’ve been working through ‘The To-Do List’, a book by Latesha Randall with Sebastian Walter.  It’s all about being a HBe (human ‘be-ing’, rather than a human do-ing).  Today I’m going to summarise the section in the book on slowing down …

Slow?  What’s good about being slow?  In today’s world slow can mean lazy, incompetent or less effective.  All these thoughts run through my mind as I race through the work I have in front of me and ‘get things done’, so that I can get onto the next item on the list.  Sometimes we forget the joys of slowing down.  Taking lunch is often a race against the clock – another item to get ticked off my list.  But little by little we can learn to take life at a slower pace.  Maybe you’d like to have a go this week with me?  

Here are a few ‘slow experiments’ to start with:

• Eat slowly.  Savour each mouthful instead of wolfing down your food anxious to move on to dessert and then to doing the dishes an the doing …. you know how it goes.  Instead, chew, savour, swallow and enjoy. 
• Breathe slowly.  We often take hurried, shallow breaths which don’t allow enough oxygen to circulate effectively.  Allow yourself the privilege of inhaling and exhaling slowly throughout the day.  
• Walk slowly.  Lengthen your stride and look around as you walk.  Take in the smells, sights and sounds.  You’ll arrive at your destination feeling a lot less flustered and have heaps more fun getting there.  

Sometimes fast isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  Give slow a go – you just might like it.  Take time to smell the roses – be slow … er.