How Slowing Down Helps You Speed Up
What is the power of living in the present moment so many successful people advocate? What tangible results do slowing down, and pausing to take a deep breath bring to our life? How does it allow you to speed up? In our crazy busy world, it seems contradictory.
I grew up with a strong value of not wasting time – being productive was critical to success, and I have to admit hard work pays off! So grabbing hold of the practice of slowing down to speed up has been a challenge. Today it’s a principle I live by.
What power has it granted me? For starters, more patience, clarity, and a focus on what matters.
Silencing my inner committee gave me space to hear my own voice. Last year I found myself writing my first book – realized writing was a huge passion! Slowed down to experience time flies when I write. A message soon emerged – a vision to create more authentic relationships, and a judgment free world. I slowed down enough to be in my own energy and attract an abundance of people who champion me to follow my dreams. I could ‘be with’ believing in myself more than doubting myself, and made a conscious decision to turn off the media.
I took the time and energy spent listening to other people’s lives, and re-invested it into my own life. In the process I let go of a lot of the fear-based energy that drives the media where money is the bottom line. And, that helped speed up. Conflict sells, peace does not. Do you receive emails of warnings compelling you to tell everyone you know?
99% of the warnings are false
From my experience, 99% of the warnings don’t come true, which can be validated from snopes.com. Today I receive more inspirational, life changing messages that impact my life positively because I slowed down to attract the people who also hold & give out loving energy. I now spend more quality time with the people in my life who matter – laughing, growing, sharing. Slowing down fills me up so I can give back to the people who mean the most to me. This includes strangers in other parts of the world.
I noticed an incredibly strong “need to know” when it comes to “the news”. It’s as if without this “knowledge” you will somehow not be able to function. I would feel condemned for not knowing the latest “news” even when it had no impact on my life because the expectation we “should know” is so high.
Remember that all news is in the past, and the only thing that matters is what you learn from it and use it to improve your present! Sure we can hear the latest warning, controversy, catastrophe, and stabbing, but slow down to notice the impact this has on your life. Have you asked whether it is relevant to you? Did it cause you to make any life altering decision?
Are you changed now because of this new information? Tomorrow there will be more of the same. If there was something I needed to know, I would find out through friends, family, and the community. Slowing down gave me the space to listen to what I believed is worth listening to, and the time to spend reading what would make a difference in my life instead of being bombarded from what other people think I need to know. By slowing down, and focusing on who matters, and what matters, I broke away from people who drain me, and attracted the people who energize me.
Focused in doing to drive results feels different than slowing down inside in the midst of our “busyness” to BE focused so your life FLOWS. It feels like less work yet I am busier than ever. I attract into my life what I want to create now, and slowing down allows me to notice it when it arrives. Oprah says “your life’s journey is about becoming more of who you are.”
Slowing down has given me the power to be just that – more of who I am. Impossible things become possible here. Will you consider slowing down, breathing even during those crazy busy moments, and notice what shows up? You could even try turning off the news for a day. I guarantee you will be amazed at how you’re able to speed up!
