Day 282: Slow Down and Take Your Time
The message I received today was to slow down and take my time.
I'm not really that kind of person.
But I do envision a time in my life where I float through my day with most things automated so I only do the work that really calls to my soul. The mundane details will be handled by my systems and processes. There are also flowing white drapes being blown by the breeze off the ocean in this vision.
I've been in such a rush lately. Everything has felt so urgent. Like something outside of me was pushing me because something big was coming and I needed to prepare now.
So getting a message to slow down seems appropriate. I've attended way too many AI workshops lately.
On the flip side, I do have some serious track records of calming slow rituals.
Today was the 500th day in a row of using Insight Timer.
The Tapping Solution doesn't track across different devices, so I have no idea about my streak on that.
I've done a daily lesson in A Course in Miracles since January 1994.
It's day 282 of writing these emails.
On Kindle, I've read consistently for 399 weeks. I've missed a few days here and there, being sick during that time.
So it isn't that I don't know how to practice slowly and consistently. I do.
I've just mostly applied that consistency to spiritual practice, writing, reading, and work.
Now I'm being asked to apply it to spaciousness too.
The foundation of my day, my spiritual practice, I would say, is carved in stone. That sets the tone for my day.
It helps me to have routines and rituals so that all the parts of my life run as smoothly as possible for someone who has a hard time not working.
And something else interesting when it comes to slowing down.
I call it structured flexibility. It started in 2008 when I switched to using a Google Calendar.
Before that, I did it, but by the seat of my pants. So it wasn't measured or documented.
I traveled a lot, so I was very good at getting work done ahead.
And I realized I could get 3-5 days of work done in 1-2 days while I was also doing the current week's work.
How was that possible?
I was also able to move things around to have a last-minute weekend trip or lunch with a friend.
And recently, when I was getting dental work done, I had to record 15 video shorts in 2 days, when I normally feel pushed to just get my 3 for the day recorded and posted in 4 different places.
But I got it done. So I know we can compress time when we need to.
Do you find that happens when you're about to take time off? Can you be much more productive?
When it comes to slowing down, collapsing time by grouping things together works for me, and so does having routines. Many of mine I've had for years, decades even.
Those routines shift throughout the year depending on what time the sun comes up, by almost 2 hours.
And the dogs have learned we live by the light, not the clock. And that also changes the order of things.
So structure and slowing down can help each other.
To slow down now, for example, I can expand my spiritual time in the morning. I can take a lunch break that's actually a break and not me eating at my computer. And I can move my end time earlier. Maybe 30 minutes to start and see how it goes.
Because slowing down is not natural for me, it's best to shift my calendar. For you, it might be simply getting up later or going to bed earlier, taking time in the middle of the day to go outside or read a book.
What slowing down looks like is very individual.
It's something that we all feel, though.
For me, it feels like one of those commercials with a woman sitting with her cup of coffee or tea, outside watching the sunrise over a beautiful scene.
It's funny. That just made me realize how much more relaxed I feel when I see photos in the family chat of my sister's sunrise at her cabin on the lake or my brother's pics of his morning hike and the changing colors of the trees or the deer in his yard.
Because the ocean is part of my daily existence, on some level it's also connected to my daily stress. That's sad.
When I go for a walk on the beach, sometimes I'm fully present, and sometimes I'm already in work mode, thinking about how long I've been gone and what I have to do when I get back.
Now that I see this, it will be a priority to shift it. The whole point of my beach walks is to be here now!
I didn't choose this life so I could rush through the beauty.
I didn't come to the ocean so it could become another backdrop for my to-do list.
What's the point of creating more freedom if I fill every open space with more work?
Slowing down, for me, is not about becoming a completely different person. It's about letting the structure I already know how to create begin protecting the spaciousness I say I want.
A longer spiritual practice.
That real lunch break.
A slightly earlier end time.
A beach walk where the walk is the point.
No more having it really be just a transition between tasks. Not something to hurry through so I can get back to being productive.
The walk itself. The ocean itself. The breeze itself. The life itself.
Be here now.
That was the message.
And I heard it while I wrote this email.
Today's Gentle Practice
Think about one part of your life that was meant to give you peace, but has quietly become tangled with pressure.
Ask yourself:
How can I be more present for the life I already created?
Don't make it complicated.
Maybe it's a slower walk.
A real lunch break.
A few more minutes in your spiritual practice.
Sitting outside without your phone.
Let one thing be the point today, instead of a bridge to the next task.
With you,
Lynn
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