Slowww….

And here it is! The last offering from me as far as the gift of slowing down as a practice is concerned. I continue to emphasize this because of the impact that I experienced it can have. I also wanted to keep at it for a prolonged period, because of my awareness about the difficulties attached to adopting slowing down in our lives.

And now with today’s brunch, I have decided to let it all spread in the universe and allow it to be received by whoever it is meant for. I as a Coach will always be available to partner with anyone who is interested in practicing slowing down and experiencing its advantages in abundance. Just that the time for it coming free, gets over with this blog. 🙂 

Anyways, when I decided to make this the last one, I also took a decision to share a couple of practices, where slowing down can be experienced by anyone who is interested. These practices will surely not come easy, but no matter how many times one fails with it, even the mere trying of it will show how magnificent it would be if adapted to.

Before I get into sharing the two practices, I would like to mention the potential barriers to slowing down. I am mentioning them first, because they will show themselves first, much before when you take your first step towards slowing down in your life. These barriers majorly come in the form of apprehensions and doubts. Apprehensions are not only about one’s ability to be able to slow down, but also being doubtful about losing on things that are perceived as important to hold on to or achieve.

Well, I call these thoughts apprehensions, as I have experienced them myself, and have also seen how invalid they are. I have myself gone through thinking about how I will be able to manage all my daily tasks and commitments if I slow down in life. What all will I have to let go of, once I adopt slowing down as a practice in my life? And then the final supreme question, when things are supposed to be achieved by doing, and not, not doing, how am I supposed to benefit by embracing slowing down?

I have shared some examples of the kind of questions that may arise. But there can be many more different and seemingly bigger ones, that may come up for you. My suggestion! LET THEM COME AND GO!

And once you have been through a phase of QnA, the time is then to start practicing slowing down in the areas of your life, which you feel you can allow easily too. I am now going to share the two areas in which I did that, but they are just for reference, and I would say, you must think through and decide what works best for you.

The first practice where I adopted slowing down in my life, is in the speed at which I speak. I realized that this was one thing connected to me, where not only me but a rush has been experienced by many who know me. So instead of choosing anything which may be easier, I decided to slow down my pace of speaking. And yes, I keep failing in it almost every day still, but I know what difference I find in my thoughts and my heartbeats, whenever I can consciously slow down my speed of speech. It has made my conversations much more soothing, a lot more sensitive, and has made them more meaningful too. This practice of slowing down my pace of speech has made me be much happier with what I speak now because it’s both me and the ones who are listening, who seem to better connect with the conversation that is taking place.

The second practice is that of slowing down my speed of replying to text messages or emails that I get. Though I did not anticipate any big changes to happen, I adopted this as a part of the bigger package of slowing down in most areas of my life. But the effects that I have experienced surprised me too. I have seen a difference in the kind of responses I am sending now. Not only the message is exactly as I wanted it to be, so no second thoughts later, I see my responses as much more affectionate and empathetic. What a beautiful thing to have in life, if what one speaks can be both affirmative as well as affectionate.

I have shared these two steps because these are actions, which each one of us is engaged in almost on daily basis in our lives. And thus, it would be easier to use this as references, to chose whichever area you feel that you would want to start practicing slowing down with.

I hope that you get to experience this blessing too if you decide to not leave this brunch as simply a read and use it to propel you into action too. As you allow yourself this gift of slowing down, I wish you to stay safe and stay happy.

Love, RB.