Slow down, stop rushing and enjoy your life

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Men, for the sake of getting a living, forget to live. ~ Margaret Fuller.

Tension is who you think you should be.  Relaxation is who you are. ~ Chinese Proverb.

Are you always hustling around? Impatient? Perpetually in a hurry? Maybe it is time to stop and think if all this rushing around is really necessary.

Many of us, particularly those who live and work in cities are always rushing around. Sometimes it is necessary to hurry – in order to catch the train to get to work on time, or to meet that 10 o’clock deadline that if you miss will cause your company to lose thousands of dollars.

The Habit of Rushing

However the occasions when we genuinely need to rush are really alot less frequent than we convince ourselves. The simple truth is that rushing has become a habit for many of us. And it has a negative effect on our mental, spiritual and physical health.

Negative Effect of Rushing

When you are rushing the body literally is in panic mode. The physical systems feel as if they are constantly being stressed to meet imaginary deadlines. An occasional shot of adrenaline might be good for you but a continuous stream of it will wear down the body and its immune system. You will tend to get sick more often, feel more fatigued, enervated and listless.

When you are rushing mentally, your mind is always ‘on’. Thoughts of things you need to get done and things you have not yet gotten done keep streaming through your mind making you feel out of sorts and unaccomplished. You may even feel panicked and have trouble sleeping and relaxing. Instead of turning to chemical sleep aides, why not change your habit of rushing around?

Become aware of your rushing habits

First you need to become aware of your daily habits and thoughts. Most of the time when we are rushing, we do not even realize it because it is such an automatic response. For example, I walk fast naturally – excessively so. I walk as fast as I can no matter if I am talking a Sunday evening stroll or trekking across the office compound.

How effective is rushing?

Once you are aware of those hurried habits, examine their effectiveness. For instance, most times walking fast at the office helps me to maximize my time and get more work done. So it is sometimes effective in that environment. However, walking fast while out for a stroll actually defeats the purpose. For each hurried habit you identify, ask yourself if it is necessary and if it is effective.

Stop rushing

If it is neither necessary nor effective, make an active effort to change that habit. Identify exactly how you can slow down. In my case, I simply practice strolling or walking slowly. It’s never easy to break a habit but it is well worth it to your mental and physical health to spend the time and energy breaking these habits of rushing around.

Mental Rushing

Mentally you need to restrict your thoughts. If you mind is constantly overrun with anxious thoughts of things to be done, practice scheduling a time to think about those things. And refuse to allow yourself to think about them at any other time. Particularly if your thoughts are obsessive rather than constructive.
Obsessive thoughts are those that merely go over and over the task again and again, serving no useful purpose except to remind yourself of it. Constructive thoughts are those that generally seek a solution.

Slowing down for bedtime

If you have trouble shutting off your mind at bedtime, be sure to change your routine about an hour before bedtime. Turn off the television, and refuse to think of thoughts of the day gone by or the day to come. Try to relax. Sit outside and watch the stars.

Do not have conversations which will require a lot of mentally planning, convolutions or active thinking. Have gentle relaxing conversations about simple relaxing things – like the sound of the crickets or the moonlight or the feel of the breeze. If the only sounds outside your window are traffic and pedestrians, try investing in a CD recording of the sounds of nature – a gentle waterfall, nights sounds and the like. Or play some relaxing music.

You may also want to invest in a relaxation spa device.

Reading before bedtime must also be regulated. Alot of adults read themselves to sleep. I advise against this as it keeps your mind in high alert mode. However if you must read, refrain from reading excitable material. Suspense novels and thrillers will keep your mind working on the book matter long afer you have drifted off to sleep – interfering with restful sleep. Instead of waking refreshed you will wake tired and enervated. 

Ideally the time before bedtime should be just time for you to be – to feel and see and not think too much.

You might also want to use these techniques with your children to help them relax and wind down. Today’s kids are as overscheduled, stressed and rushed as their parents are. Teaching them to have a more relaxed nature will help them succeed in having a productive satisfying life.

Calming environment and techniques

If you find that you are high strung, tense, anxious and constantly worried, you are in dire need of slowing down. Try to adjust your environment fully – use soothing colors, keep a clean ordered work space, play relaxing background music. Make use of desktop water fountains, soothing windchimes and white noise devices (particularly if your environment is noisy and intrusive).

Yoga techniques for slowing down

You can also use simple yogic practices – like stretching and breathing techniques. These are simple to do, can be done anywhere and have an excellent calming effect on your body. A simple stretch to do is to kneel with your bum on your feet and bend forward reaching your palms to the floor, taking your forehead as close to the floor as possible. Or simply sit in your chair and stretch slowly and carefully upwards.

There are many different breathing techniques which can help you slow down, relax and become calmer. Some are listed here. The simple act of taking a few slow deep breaths in through the nostrils and slowly out through the nostrils has the effect of calming the senses and focusing the mind – and halting thoughts of rushing around

When you start to feel overwhelmed, a five-minute stroll outside can clear your head and calm your mind. Or a brief conversation with a friend or loved one can reestablish your focus and relax your fears.

Adjust your diet

Diet plays a major role not only in promoting health and dis-ease, but what you eat (and drink) also has a calming or excitatory effect on your body and mind. Anyone who drinks coffee is aware of this. I suggest you remove coffee from your diet altogether. Among other reasons coffee is addcitive – caffeine is a drug. But more about that in another article.

If you want to be calmer and less rushed limit or completely remove foods such as coffee, alcohol and chocolate from your diet. Drink lots of water. Lots and lots of water. Also limit sugary foods, such as cakes, donuts, pastries, even artificially sweetened fruit juices. And did I mention that you ought to drink lots of water – preferably with a little lemon or lime squeezed in.

Most of us are dehydrated and given that the body is 70% water, this is very detrimental state. When the body does not have enough water, it will go into drought mode and start load balancing the available water, reserving it for the most critical bodily processes. Apart from the fact that physically you will feel less than your best, this internal water conservation sends a panic message to your entire system and contributes to your feelings of panic. So drink lots and lots of water.

Meditate

Practicing daily meditation will also help you to become more focused and resist helter-skelter panicked thinking. Meditation often seems like an overwhelming concept but as with any new habit you can start slow, practice daily and your meditation skills will grow with time. Initially, you can just practice sitting still for 10 minutes. Then you can practice focusing and not allowing your thoughts to wander randomly from one item to the next. Focusing on being aware of your breathing is one popular buddhist meditation technique. You can slowly increase the time you meditate until you are up to 30 mins a day.

Slow down to accomplish more

If you feel that your life and your work is so hectic and important that you cannot possibly relax, remember that scientific studies have shown that people who spend less time at the office, and more time relaxing are significantly more productive and effective.  When your mind is not constantly worrying about the next item on your “to-do” list, it is free to focus on being creative and naturally comes up with effective solutions for increasing productivity.

Be realistic about daily goals

Remember also that only so many items can be accomplished in any 24-hour period. Do not overextend yourself or overestimate your time. Set realistic objectives for each day. And take the time to relish your achievements. If you have ten items on your “to do” list and you achieve eight, relish the fact that you achieved 80% of your objectives rather than obsessing about the other 20%.

Be patient

Remember tomorrow is another day, and while you do want to maximize your time, there are items that will get done tomorrow rather than today. The expression “Don’t leave for tomorrow what you can do today” speaks about what you are able to do today. Not everything can be done today. As my hubby is famous for saying “Have patience. Rome was not built in a day.”

Above all, slow down, relax and enjoy your life. These are the days of your life that you are living right now, not just some goal you are working towards at some point in the future. Take the time to relish them.

There is more to life than increasing its speed. ~ Mohandas Gandhi.

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Related Articles:

• How to become an Optimist – Part I
• How to be Happy – Training yourself to enjoy life
• The Power of Realistic Positive Thinking
• Your Capacity for Change
• Optimism vs. Pessimism

Posted in Depression, Optimism and Positive Thinking, Reaching for the Top, Self Discipline |   1 Comment »

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 24th, 2006 at 10:30 am and is filed under Depression, Optimism and Positive Thinking, Reaching for the Top, Self Discipline . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.