Fast-paced lives, driven by a variety of external stimuli and an increasing number of notifications on our mobile devices, can often leave us with a sort of reaction: a drive to be part of an opposite reaction of pause. And it stands true—possibly a revolt against the so-called normal pace of current living—it’s really extreme. It is slow living, a touching part of wholly taking life at a leisurely pace—putting first things first, quality over quantity, or an action that runs against today’s typical rate.
Slow living is not to be misunderstood for an action performed by a snail or disavowing aspiration. The true essence of slow living is really to nurture consciousness and attentiveness in everything a person does. It is also understood that real happiness depends not on what a man has collected or the goals he has achieved but on merely applying all this within the present moment granted to us.
One of the most beautiful things that happens when you embrace slow living is the enjoyment of ordinary life. It’s the smell of something nice, enjoying those very little moments in life. Get a cup of coffee in the morning, but just stay there, absorbing the warmth of the coffee, smelling the aroma of fresh bread baking, or looking with soft light through the windows.
Imagine you’re not eating breakfast with one eye on your phone, paying more attention to shapes, textures, and flavors—it’s simple eating. Instead of just trying to rush into the next, you watch the scenery go by while you’re heading to the office, noting and enjoying the beauty of the world around you. Rather than working on two activities during an interaction, come into the moment and, with the one person in front of you, listen and connect.
This transformation enables one to reclaim ourselves, our loved ones, and the world. It generates gratitude for small favors, reminding human beings that life’s happiest moments are often the most basic ones.
Here are some constructive ways to actualize slow living:
Mindful Eating: Put away your screen to focus on how food tastes and feels, smells, or if you would rather. Take your time eating and get pleasure from every nibble or mouthful you take.
Digital Detox: Create some limitations to technology. Use less of your phone, block notifications, and make some areas of your home phone free.
Nature Immersion: Spend some time outside, even if it is just going out into the park or a forest, or even if it is simply sitting in the garden. Communicate with and admire the nature around you.
Lifelong Encounters: Show affection to those closest to you better. Apply an effort to meaningful conversation, hear the person out, and do without the gadgets.
Occupation with Oneself: Look for anything that brings you happiness and lets you be yourself. As long as it is drawing, constructing, or painting, you do it, irrespective of listening to music, gardening, writing, vessels, find a rich source of energy that is lost in you.
Mindful Movement writing, ornt: Do some asana, exercise Tai Chi, and walk out there. Do not let go of your focus on going back to your breath and being in touch with your body.
Cultivate gratitude: Find a time to do this each day. Look for things to be happy about and either write them down in a gratitude journal or express them to other people.
Simplify Your Life: Weed out both physical clutter in your house and mental clutter from your planner. Focus on the items that are important to you rather than everything else, and do away with superfluous duties and acquisitions.
Work out forbearance: Forbearance is not a strategy for living fast but for living slow. This is an existing process, so give yourself due respect and time.
Intertwining with daily life is the essence of slow life, not merely trying to escape reality. It is about selecting a life, deliberately, consciously, and with intention. A slow life opens up windows and creates opportunities to see the real inside. By slowing down day by day to appreciate life’s small moments, we can cultivate the fruit of lasting peace, joy, and fulfillment. In a world often full of disorderly clutter, the slow life serves as a reminder that genuine wealth is found in the simplicity of most quotidian moments of life.
To read more blogs like this, click here.
Writer
Mahfuza Amir Ela
Intern,
Content Writing Department
YSSE