Slow Living

Nature does not hurry yet everything is accomplished. - Lao Tzu

I was laying in my bed, forced to rest and bored, when I turned my head over and looked at the little quote I have framed next to me on my bed side table. “Nature does not hurry yet everything is accomplished” - Lao Tzu. I placed it there as a reminder to myself to slow down. It is easy for me to keep pushing, always being on the look out for the next thing to do, to improve and become better. And my mind…my mind never gives me a quite minute. As much as I respect the hustle, perseverance and grit you need in order to reach your goals, there must be a middle ground on finding the balance between it and to SLOW DOWN. At least I know I need to in order to actually be able to reach my goals. I would even say this is the greatest difference between men and women, male and female. Speaking for myself, I cannot work all the time; I do not have the power in me to push and keep pushing without taking the so-needed breaks because if I do, my body just says no and breaks down on me. For the last couple of weeks, I kept pushing too much and overdid myself even though I knew my limits. It feels like a little setback every time, from which I have to start from scratch again. Even though the extreme hustle might work for some people, it throws me off, gets me out of balance and messes with my progress. So here I am, looking at that quote, being fascinate by the wisdom of it. Like the little confirmation I needed to know there is a way of finding the balance between the grind and rest.

A couple months ago I came across the concept of “slow living”. A lifestyle approach with its key principles on

• Being mindful and present in the moment and fully engaged in activities

• Being intentional in making conscious choices that align with your personal values and priorities

• Prioritizing quality over quantity within experiences, relationships and possessions

• Valuing simplicity and cutting out unnecessary distractions to be able to focus on what truly matters.

The goal hereby is to advocate for a more deliberate and thoughtful way of life to balance out the fast-paced, high-stress modern world. Although the instant misconception of perceiving slow living as laziness or lack of ambition sounds discouraging, it actually is about prioritizing and valuing time and experiences.

Personally I treasure the latest the most. Slow living is to me being able to cherish the little moments, reminding myself what really matters to me, moving away from all the stress and sitting down with my thoughts in silence. Something that sounds so simple but most people aren’t capable of doing. It is so much easier to stay distracted by all the news, social media and messengers and neglect your inner world.

Slow living means to me walking with awareness through life. Being conscious of your environment and the people surrounding you, as well as being conscious about yourself. There is this certain softness and grace while taking action that comes with it. I experience it myself; everything seems to be so easy to achieve without having to force it.

Even thought the concept of slow living contains certain principles, I still believe it comes down to everyone’s own personal interpretation. To each their own of finding a way on how to accomplish life (without hurry) like nature does.

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some of my favorite quotes relating to slow living

love,

Michelle