3 Tips for Slowing Down That Aren’t Meditation
In a world that moves too fast, slowing down is a superpower
Our world is moving faster than ever before. Technology has allowed us to communicate faster, move faster, work more, and produce more. Our biology is not set up for this pace. This is one of the reasons that anxiety disorders are the most common mental health problem in the US, with about 18 percent of the population struggling.
There are likely significantly more people who experience the symptoms but don’t meet all of the criteria for diagnosis. Think of anxiety as excessive speed in the body. Thoughts and hearts “race”, nervous systems are “on 10”, and our bodies respond with restlessness and an uncomfortable urge to move faster. What to do?
The skill of slowing down is becoming increasingly harder to learn and put into practice because external pressures are constantly encouraging the opposite: go fast! We’re obsessed with productivity and have internalized it as our own goal. Many of us don’t even register it as external pressure anymore because we believe it’s what we want.
As a therapist, I spend a lot of time encouraging people to slow down in their lives and in our therapy sessions. When we tell stories or talk about how we’re feeling, it can be helpful to slow down to see more…
