Category: Slow Pace Life

Slow pace life and living sounds like a snail boring description in this marathon journey we call Life. But actually the way to discover more of what you want in this life is found in those slower and often overemphasized silent sloooww moments where you can gather your thoughts in mindfulness.

On the flipside, if you get in the habit of being busy, you’ll find slow life seasons as mundane in comparison.

And that gives your ego the opportunity to make the difference a negative, when it’s actually a positive. For one, you lower stress that you can’t measure and that can add years to your life.

When you embrace slow seasons and dig deeper, you can find the joy of missing out of activities and discover more of you.

I know when I was younger I felt like all eyes were on me when the truth is people are concerned with their own lives. They’re not thinking of us as much as our naturally entering thoughts want us to think.

So focusing on ourselves gives us our healthy back. And at the end of the day and our lives, we’re the only ones we are guaranteed to be with.

Saying no to what’s not good for you is good. Only you as an evolved being know how to live your life wisely.

…Sometimes this can take seasons to embrace.

And when you go through the motions of enough busy seasons, you realize there’s an end to each season. The buildup can end up in letdown. And looking back, you gain wisdom and lessons learned that are invaluable for your future.

Summed of wisdom can follow with: it’s not about what you do in your day-to-day that matters most as today becomes a fast and fading memory tomorrow. You never re-live yesterday.

This type of discernment often comes later with years and experience so you don’t waste more time on things that don’t matter. Back in my earlier years like most my age, I measured achievements against the culture I grew up around that didn’t last.

An example: I started out going to public schools in the U.S. county where at the time I was growing up had the highest ranking standardized test scores in the nation… like the SATs taken in high school.

Living outside Washington DC that’s full of movers and shakers didn’t make slowing down a goal. The idea was to speed up and always be busy no matter what.

Photo: This is the remodeled open skylit space in the house that I grew up in where my desk sat decades ago and I learned to type on an ancient typewriter in the 80s. And then picked up writing daily years later. 

I gradually shook off the “busy” mentality to get to where I am today where being busy on purpose matters most.

And the Universe helped me by removing obstacles that at the time seemed like a mean joke. Because starting over seemed like a recurring theme. But being in those rough seasons and trying to gain traction, I grew. And I made other accomplishments that weren’t on my list.

Lessons Learned

I realized life well-lived isn’t meant to be a linear path, going up and up. It’s more like up and out, and sometimes back down. And navigating adversity and new starts help you with now what? situations.

Being a late bloomer can actually help you. If you didn’t peak too quickly (or having peaked yet!), you didn’t miss or haven’t missed out!

Your experiences in between build you up to what you need for your dreams to turn out to be a dream come true (and not a letdown).

In your time, you’ll appreciate when you are fully spiritually ready to embrace what is meant to be yours! 🎉 Remember the turtle in the slow pace life marathon wins the race. 🐢

When I entered my new start in college, it was eye-opening as that was the first time I realized students came from totally different background circumstances.

Before then, I took high school courses and learned things prior that other people who came from other places in the U.S. had never experienced and that was shocking to me at the time.

I needed those eye openers to embrace moving down south, a slow pace life more on my terms.

There, I was immediately struck with how politics didn’t suffocate the air. And I was able to appreciate a slower pace life.

With new environment and time, I realized that this life is more than what our resumes and awards say about us.

A calmer, slow pace life has other benefits too like you actually are mindful of what you’re doing or watching in the moment. That brings joy.

The moment is not a blur like outfit changes to the next activity that’ll come and go and you may not have fully enjoyed because your headspace was busy preoccupied.

These are a few ways to embrace the slow pace life and wisdom sooner when you’re in the busy seasons:

Slow cook your foods. I’ve had microwaves in and out of my life. And when I had one, I always used the equipment.

But when I didn’t have one, I realized I would pause to think about things in life (mindfulness) when I was watching over food heating or slow cooking.

In slow cooking life, I sometimes daydreamed about complex dishes like those when I worked in hotel catering or restaurant event planning.

Or happy fond food memories in gastronomic experiences I had. I spent vacationing weeks in Italy where the slow food movement grew and developed into American organic and sustainable cooking culture because of restaurants like Chez Panisse.

It’s fun to immerse yourself into other worlds like this that you’re not in. It’s a different type of mindfulness.

Then when brought back to actually cooking, that brought me back to simpler cooking times which is the way I appreciate foods for their whole and individual tastes.

Then voila! dinner is ready and you had a ‘lil escape… so meal prep is actually enjoyable. 😉

Slow down habits become a balanced and joyful lifestyle. And that can start from nostalgia or daydreaming that can be part of your healthy life like meditation.

Those type of things slow you down and sometimes you can resurface a dream.

A habit of slow living or slowing down can be changed with or without a simple piece of kitchen equipment. 😊

Take a moment to take deep breaths. We can never be over-reminded. We have nothing if we don’t have our daily breath. It gives us space. And if you ever feel heart palpitations, this is a way to calm those down:

Listen to your inner voice and what’s it telling you. When we have nagging thoughts, they usually mean something needs to be addressed for our peace. In those times, it’s better to get out of our head voices and listen to the higher channels.

Take time for yourself away from people. We act differently when we’re around people and social environments than by ourselves. We take on their energy and want to naturally blend in with ours. But it’s hard to find your authentic self in those head spaces when trying to please others.

It’s good to take some solo time out that’ll speed up your personal growth. That’s when you can reflect on what matters in your life, so you don’t end up with regrets.

And preparing today for tomorrow is the secret to getting the life you want.

Taste your tea when you first put your lips on your mug. Enjoy the aroma. Using Ayurveda methods, smelling a scent or spice first, is a good way to see if it’s pleasant. What’s pleasant to your eyes doesn’t mean it’s favorable to your body.

Then when you come back another time, you may feel something different for the same experience. Our bodies are constantly changing and sending us signals. When you’re aware and sensitized to your own senses, you can better influence how your day goes.

So next time, give your food a good acknowledging stir before you take a bite.

Do mindful eating or intuitive eating. In intuitive eating, it’s all about slowing down and mindfulness. And when you do that, you pick up different notes and palates. You become more open to different tastes.

Take a few bites and imagine the food source. Where does the food come from before the grocery store? Someone if not you from your garden sourced the food. For plant-based foods, those come from the land and were picked by someone.

Many food travel shows teach us about regional food sources and how certain cultures prepare dishes that can make us slow down and appreciate.

Get rid of check list to-do items that never needed to be completed. Lists are great for groceries but for life direction, not so much. You end up zipping through the list.

The goal (of lists) is to get to the end. And in slow down, we want to experience and enjoy the middle.

With lists you can also end up working on things that were never important to begin with. Those slow down your progress.

If you have a slow pace life, you remember what’s important in the moment as your miracle memory (or spirit) prompts you.

And finally, take time to look at old photos or read journals you wrote.

Try to remember who you were back then. You want to see a new and improved you and not one that has aging appearance effects. You’re aging in wisdom beauty and a better life.

That’s something to celebrate today. 🎉

I love looking at old photos and thinking what I didn’t know back then! And now I have so many more great experience memories.

We all wish we could go back in time for some nostalgic reasons, but we can also be glad we don’t have to go back to those testing seasons.

In today’s heated seasons, you can easily make your own soft serve ice cream. And can add to a celebrated cake to enjoy a slice of life today. 🎂

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