Slowing Down
I’ve spent most of my life rushing around, trying to get things done, moving on to the next thing and in constant motion.
The world we live in today is in constant motion. I can forgive myself for trying to match it… but I’m tired.
I remember a few years ago stopping myself during my before-bed routine. I could feel the tension in my body as I was frantically trying to brush my teeth.
Why am I rushing? Just so I can get to bed?
And then when I am in bed, feel the tension in my body and my heart racing?
It’s so silly.
I was thinking about this a lot recently, so I decided to add something to my morning routine that would help me slow down.
A straight razor.
I have always been facially hair challenged. I can grow the smallest and thinnest of moustaches. And maybe a little on my chin. It takes me a couple of minutes to shave.
But with a straight razor, something I have never used before, it would take me much longer.
You have to be careful with a straight razor or you will cut your nose off. So it requires a lot of care and attention, especially for rookies like me.
By turning this into a ritual of sorts and really slowing down, I’ve found it to be a very mindful experience.
“Stress is caused by being ‘here’ but wanting to be ‘there.”
This is one of my favourite quotes.
Whenever I am feeling stressed it is always, always because of this.
When I am irritated in traffic and want someone to hurry up it’s because I am saying, “Where I currently am isn’t good enough. I want to be somewhere else.”
But is that ever actually true?
What is wrong with being in the car for a little longer?
It’s not like I can’t spend that time listening to a little more music or listening to the end of a podcast. Or, god forbid, listening to my thoughts for a little longer.
We are so conditioned now to just ignore our thoughts and bury them with more stuff.
“I went from excitement to self-loathing in a matter of hours.”
A story I like to tell my clients is about the time I started recording hypnosis tracks.
I bought myself a fancy new microphone. It looked beautiful and I was excited to set it up. The only problem was I knew very little about microphones or sound engineering or editing, for that matter.
I had it hooked up but I just couldn’t get the settings right at all. I was like a toddler stumbling around in a dark room. I had no idea what I was doing.
I also had plans later that day.
As every hour passed, I felt more and more irritated. The closer it got to the time I needed to leave, every minute became an irritating reminder of how fucking useless I was.
I am stubborn, especially when I am trying to solve a problem. Painfully so. So I kept going until eventually I couldn’t keep my plans waiting any longer and admitted defeat.
I took the opportunity to practice being kind to myself.
I told myself that it was fine. I would start again from scratch and, if needed, I would learn everything I needed to know about sound engineering.
So I made myself a cup of tea, sat down, and I was finished in fifteen minutes.
“In the slowing down of everything, I dropped the resistance.”
I was stressed, and that prevented me from being able to achieve the desired outcome. I wanted to be somewhere else from where I currently stood.
Creating stress, and therefore resistance.
Being calm allowed for speed, even if my approach was slow.
The world we live in is so focused on efforting and struggling to achieve a desired outcome.
But being calm and going downstream will always get you there quicker than paddling upstream.