3 Suggestions for Slowing Down

 

Feeling lost and confused lately? In our current, life-changing dimensional shift, everyone is challenged. Slowing down so that we can hear our own inner guidance is crucial. Self-care is key to slowing down. In slowing down, we change the conditioned, habitual patterning that causes us to stay busy, to force forward, to suppress the wisdom of our inner experience.

The 3^rd Dimension was about drive and ambition. The 5^th Dimension is mellower than that.  It no longer works to go outside of the present moment or to push for outcomes. In this new, multidimensional experience, the practices of overworking, overdoing, overthinking and staying busy agitate our functioning and get in the way of knowing what to do, when.

Photo by Aureal Williams

Why Slow Down?

Before we get to the 3 Suggestions for Slowing Down, let’s look at the value of slowing down.

We are no longer operating solely on the mental plane. We are being informed through our entire sensate experience; the channels of this receptivity are unique to each of us; some feel things, others see things, and others hear things, some can know by touch.  Some people are open to the signs that come their way as they travel through their day. The change, now, is that we can no longer think our way through something. Our minds do not have all of the information. If we open to the knowing that comes through our sensate experiences, we get a bigger, clearer picture, as well as a sense of timing. For instance, we might know that we do not yet have all the information that is needed to discern an optimal choice; we might be getting the information to wait.

The 5th Dimension is a multidimensional experience, opening us to a greater reality than is possible within the confines of the 3^rd and 4^th Dimensions. The 5^th Dimension is also a portal to even higher dimensional frequencies. In order to access information that comes to us through our body’s connection with this Living Field of Love and Energy (Possibility) and Knowing, we have to be still.  We have to allow for space in the gaps of our doing.

There are rhythms in nature and there are rhythms within our bodies; we are not 24/7 machines like the ATM at the end of your street. We cycle and ebb and flow and we need good, quality sleep, rest and play and relaxation for optimal functioning. These are some of the reasons why it is helpful to slow down.

Another reason to slow down is that in the 5^th Dimension, fear is released. Much of our constant activity is based on fear – deadlines, enough money in the bank, external approval from a boss or a team. You have probably heard this many times, fear has no essence. One of our earlier US Presidents even said this, “Nothing to fear but fear itself.” Our 3^rd Dimension experiences were so fear- based that it takes a long, long time, to get this as a truth: fear is a control mechanism and can be released.  One way we release fear is by staying in the present moment.  This is a whole other blog topic, maybe for another time.

For now, the focus is on slowing down. If you have a wiry type body, what is known in the Ayurvedic tradition as a Vata body, or if you were born in the first half of the Lunar Cycle, the waxing Moon from New Moon to Full Moon, then you probably do have an innate orientation to high energy levels.  Your natural state might be motion, however, every living organism has ebb and flow rhythms. For those with heavier body types and those born in the waning Moon, from Full to the end of the Lunar Cycle, slowing down for you might mean taking to the bed occasionally.

Slowing down is a vital skill set for everyone in this shift from 3D to 5D.  The slowing down might look different for you than it does for a loved one or a friend, so please allow comparisons and judgement to fly out the window as you explore your own experiences of slowing down.

The 3 Suggestions for Slowing Down

We change through learning and we learn by doing. To rewire prior conditioning of habitual busyness, accept that learning to slow down takes practice, every day and through multiple, experiential ways.

 

1. For part of your daily routine, whether it is in the morning as you wake up or before you go to bed, or during your commute to or from work, be silent, free of radio, tunes, TV. Try this for 5 to 10 minutes and just be still and contemplative as you go about your activity. Notice your breathing, notice your emotion. If fear or anxiety come up, by all means turn on the sounds, however, also try to slow breath through any surfacing anxiety.  If you do experience peace through this practice of a sound stimulation-free time, gradually add minutes, maybe upping your “in silence” time to 30 minutes or longer.

 

The point of this practice is to increase the comfort level with silence so that, over time, there is more familiarity with listening to intuition and the sensate informing that comes through the living energy field around us.

 

2. Consider exploring adding an herbal tea to your daily intake. Or, consider the use of aromatherapy to help still your active mind and body. Some common herbs have a soothing effect and support the body in calming down.  You can research these through many sources. If you go to a health food store, you might be able to buy a small amount of an herb you would like to try from their bulk herb section.

Aromatherapy works on the primitive brain and its use can have an immediate calming effect. Explore aromatherapy options, they come in roll on applicators, creams that you can rub into your wrist, or in essential oils. Sniffing something like a rose oil can have an immediate calming effect to a stressed body. Research aromas that call to you.  Please note that many products used in aromatherapy might not be safe for use with children.  Consult references or professionals to learn more.

Allowing the body to calm, through use of an herbal tea or through the sense of smell, can have a direct effect on slowing down the mind. If it calls to you to use herbs or aromatherapy, practice using them regularly, maybe a couple of times each week over a period of some months. Consistent experiential learning can groove a new imprint.

3. The last suggestion is to snatch moments through the day and practice slowing down.  For instance, between tasks that you do, stop for 3 to 5 minutes, stretch if you can, close your eyes, breath deep, simply stop.  Taking mini breaks like this throughout the day will recalibrate the mindset of keeping going.  A few ideas for integrating a habit of stopping include: after a meeting, go into the bathroom if you have no other place of privacy and take a few minutes to relax the muscles in your body, relax your face by smiling, even though you might not feel like it, close your eyes, massage your hands, rotate your shoulders, your wrists and your ankles. Look out the window for a few uninterrupted minutes and allow your thoughts to float like the clouds.  Acknowledge when your mind and body need a short break and give them what they want. Consciously assist in the recalibration from overdoing into conscious listening to your own inner experience.

Slowing down is a learned experience, built through trial and error, consistent practice and the cumulative joy that living a slowed down life brings. Please let me know, through the comments section below, how you are slowing down now and how that feels to you.