Life Transitions: My granddaughters are into buying clothes at consignment stores. This is an aspect of “slow fashion”. Slow fashion is an awareness that considers the manufacturing process and resources used to make the clothes. Our local newspaper had an article recently on “slow home furnishing” which called for a slowing down of your home decor choices to enable you to find a unique, and often vintage piece of furniture, to make more of a statement than the cheaply made newly manufactured variety. There is also the “slow food” movement which encourages growing seeds and using regional meats and produce. Of course, you are encouraged to cook them at home while enjoying the company of others. But, the “slow movement” I will refer to next is the cultural shift towards slowing down the pace of human life. I am in favor of this idea, though I realize it could be difficult for those in the building phase of their career or in the chaos of raising a family. What we might agree on is that change is happening at an accelerated speed and heightened anxiety seems to accompany this phenomenon.
Rapid fire change outside our control is the worst. A tree falls on your home during a windstorm. Your young adult quits college believing they’ll never be able to repay their student loan. You’re shocked over the grocery bill and wonder how you can feed your family. Usually, your immediate response will be an unconscious reaction, and depending on your personality type and your familial conditioning, how you behave will not always be expressive of your best, higher self.
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Here is where the “slow movement” can be an antidote for spiraling out of control. Here is your free tool. Breathing. Paying attention to your breath gets you out of your head and into your body. This keeps you anchored in the present moment. Try this: close your eyes, breathe in deeply, and exhale slowly. Do this until you feel your body relax. Then ask yourself – what is one small concrete thing you can do that might improve the situation or that would bring you peace of mind? Once you have something, ask this again two more times. Then imagine how you will feel when you accomplish these three things.
By doing this, you will have gained a small sense of control over that spiraling anxiety. This is a do-and-repeat–as-needed practice. Give it a try. Let me know how it works for you in my comment section.
