“We are always getting ready to live but never living.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are some days that begin and end with little growth.  In a society that hurries to finish before it can even start, it doesn’t surprise me that we fail to see what surrounds us.  If you speed your car through the countryside you miss all the beauty you are passing along the way.  Life is the same.   However by taking it down a notch, you open yourself up to experiences that you might have missed.  If you make your day about completing tasks, that is all you will accomplish.  So instead, slow it down enough so that you can be present and observe life.   Although many deep-breathing exercises can help you to accomplish this, there is another exercise that allows you to have or be a “slow down” coach and all it takes is 300 seconds of your day.

Grab a cup of warm tea or coffee and ask your friend or loved one to do the same.  Sit at an empty table and spend 300 seconds talking quietly to one another….like you are in a library.  By lowering your voice, you are immediately engaged trying to hear the other person.  Try to keep eye contact the entire time allowing you both to be present in the moment.   I often hold the warm cup of tea in my hands when I do the exercise. Later I use it as a trigger for my body.  Simply holding a warm cup of tea evokes peace allowing me to slow down just enough to see the world around me.  You never know….these 300 seconds just may change the way you drive through your life!