ASAP = As Slow As Possible?
Hello Friends!
Oof. It’s been a while! How have you been?
As you may have noticed, I took a hiatus for a few months. I felt an unfamiliar but insistent pull to step away, coupled with an almost insatiable need to investigate, and consequently spent nearly all of my spring reading and experimenting.
My reading list is eclectic, and I’m excited to see what the universe was prepping me for. If you’re interested, I’ve posted my list here.
One of the themes that has emerged for me this year has been patience. Let’s say that indecisiveness has never been an issue for me, but patience has long been an area of opportunity.
I know what I want - and I’d like it presently, please.
I’ve always been willing to work for what I want and hustling since childhood. But as I started reading, I noticed a lot of the work revolved around slowing down, resting, feeling the feelings, and appreciating the now—paying attention to my body—really paying attention… to me.
As you probably know, which is why you may also avoid it - it’s hard!
How can taking care of others be more manageable than taking care of ourselves?
My experiment continues, but here are a couple of the things I have been changing:
*Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, health practitioner, dietician, dentist, or in any way qualified to provide you with health advice. This is what I am trying. You do you.
1. Diet: I stopped eating spicy food (which I very much enjoyed) a few years ago because the pain wasn't worth the deliciousness, but I still haven't always felt great after eating. Recently, I learned more about the Ayurvedic diet and decided to eliminate some foods and see what that did. My guts feel much better, and the change was almost instantaneous.
2. Noticing Abundance: There is a lot of talk these days about "Manifesting Abundance." Ok, I'm in! But how do you actually do it?
Personally, I think one of the first steps to manifesting abundance is recognizing abundance. It's all around us, and once you start noticing it - you begin to see it everywhere and, even better, feel it.
I smart-assedly wrote "lots of slugs" on my Abundance List in March. In April, there were "tons of new birds." In May, I was shocked by the "crazy number of butterflies and hummingbirds" that showed up - they got three exclamation points!!! And last week, in addition to most of those mentioned above - we had a hawk in the bird bath. A HAWK! It was stunning, and that I happened to be standing there, fifteen feet away, watching at that moment felt like a gift.
Probably not coincidently, I haven't seen a slug in months. I should mention that I live in the city. We provide clean water, but we don't feed the wildlife outside of tending the flowers.
So, look around and notice when there is a generous bounty - maybe it’s a steady breeze cooling your environment, the explosion of fresh produce available as harvests come in, the sound of kids laughing, or the leaves as they turn color and fall. Keep an abundance list of what you see. Soon, you’ll be adding more personal items to the list.