While out on my walk yesterday I was wracking my brain trying to come up with some inspirational words of wisdom for today’s post. I usually have an idea in my mind of what I am going to write and prepare it ahead of time but this time, nothing. My mind was not only on the blog, it was also on what I was going to buy at the grocery store later on and what I should make for supper. Then it was on to Autumn’s piano lessons and Kesa’a birthday (which is in 11 days) and the cake that I am going to make.

I missed out on more than half of my walk, the beautiful beaming sunshine and all the freshly green trees that surrounded me by keeping all of my thoughts on things that weren’t even happening yet. These thoughts of mine were all on the future and I realized that I was not present. I didn’t even feel like I was walking because my mind was not there at all. Then I realized how fast I was going and a thought came to me slow down.

I thought “That’s it! Those two simple words. Those are my words of wisdom!” Two simple words that can make a huge impact on anybody’s life. Just slow down.

I thought that if I don’t slow down to enjoy this walk, soon it will be over and I will have totally missed it by not calming my thoughts and just being here now. I made a deal with myself that if I just relaxed and let all of those thoughts go for the last part of my walk, I could worry for the rest of the day. The surprising thing is that once I did take the time to slow down and be mindful, all of those worries just melted away. With each mindful step I felt peace and was able to really appreciate each beautiful moment that had been given to me.

If we never take the time to just slow down and see the beauty in all of the things that surround us in our every day lives, we will miss out on more than just an hour long walk. We could even miss our whole lives and “The most important thing to do before you die is live!”

After I got back from my walk I didn’t rush into doing the many things that my mind had planned. I prepared us a lunch of peanut butter sandwiches and apple slices and we had a picnic on the grass. We read some books under the big tree and then walked hand-in-hand into town. I did my errands and then went home to prepare a beautiful supper for the family. All of those things felt so much better when I was actually there doing them. I felt like I really got to enjoy my day by just slowing down and being mindful.

So those are my two simple words of wisdom for you all today! SLOW DOWN.

I thought that I would also add the lyrics to a Jack Johnson song that I love and is very fitting to what this post has to say.

Slow down everyone
You’re moving too fast
Frames can’t catch you when
You’re moving like that