In a stressful world, slowing down is a skill that can be learned and practiced in many aspects of our lives. We tend to rush through our days due to our growing demands and responsibilities. By learning to slow down, and becoming more mindful of our everyday experiences, we can increase our human experience, and become more present for the people and demands in our lives. Let’s take our lives off autopilot and learn to live in the moment...even if it is only for a minute.

So how can you begin to practice the art of slowing down?

Do mundane activities mindfully....

When we do activities such as driving, we typically do so on autopilot. Often we get to our destinations and do not even know how we got there. Instead of driving on autopilot, we can take this opportunity to increase our ability to be more mindful, which in result causes us to take the time to slow down. By simply paying attention to your senses, you can bring awareness to where you are and what journey your mind is taking you on. Pay attention to what you are hearing and what you are feeling. How does the steering wheel feel? Where is your body making contact with the seat? Are you hot or are you feeling cold? You can apply this practice to many aspects of your life such as, showering, walking, washing your hands, brushing your teeth, and much more.

My challenge to you, is to do one activity mindfully for one minute...test it out and see how it feels to slow down.

**This blog post was featured on uma.org.