We continue our series of self-care mini-retreats from Torri Shafer’s “Romancing the Soul” with a post about slowing down to savor life and some tangible practices to help you do just that.

Remember the merry-go-rounds? They looked so fun with the other kids laughing and shrieking as they rode it: heads back, hair flying, faces glowing. It was freedom manifested. I would run to it and could hardly wait until it slowed down enough for me to climb aboard – and when I did, I didn’t want to just plod around in a circle like a pony ride – I wanted the exhilaration of speed. I wanted G-force on the cheeks. So, I would run until the speed of the merry-go-round lifted my feet off the ground then cling to the bars for dear life waiting for the intoxication of speed to overwhelm me.

It didn’t take long for the feeling of being overwhelmed to kick in and it made me nauseous to look at the world whirl by. My sweaty hands kept slipping off the bars threatening to fling me to sure death or dismemberment. This wasn’t a merry-go-round – this was a wheel of death!  There was no choice but to close my eyes and try to keep from puking on my parents as I flew by them. I promised god that, if he got me through this, I would never do something dumb like this again. of course, I did – just as soon as the vertigo calmed down enough for me to run again.

Now that I am older and wiser, I have elevated the merry-go-round to a whole new level. Now it is the minutes that are spinning by madly as I try to cling to my equilibrium. The pace still makes me a bit sick, but it is as hard as ever to get off. And when it slows down, I am strangely compelled to hit the ground running and speed it up again.

I am not alone. How many times last week did you say or hear, “Goodness, I can’t believe the time has flown by so fast!” followed by a forced smile or a nervous laugh? The other person also gives a knowing smile. They know this sentiment well and, in the quiet moments, they can feel the uneasiness it generates, even if the thought is not articulated in their minds. The statement is almost as ubiquitous as hello, but there is an unsettling quality to it that is not found in our other clichés.

We know that we have been duped by the old belief that faster is better, but we can’t quite let it go. When something is improved, it usually means it does whatever it does faster. When we call people adrenaline junkies, we do so with a hint of admiration.  When we call people “slow”, it is usually not as a compliment.

Our technological advances seduce us with the promise of more leisure time but what we get instead is more impatient.  We have maximized our efficiency but in doing so we have supplanted the languid, more spiritual currents of life by a mechanized mediocrity.

When did time, which seemed as solid and never-ending as the sky when we were young, become so mercurial? The greater question perhaps is – why, now that it has become such a rare commodity, do we still squander it? It is as if we cannot help ourselves. We are addicted to the speed.

This retreat helps to free yourself from the compulsion to rush through life even if it is just for the day. So, for the day of your retreat, minimize multi-tasking; move with relaxed ease; eat slowly. Go about life as if you had all the time in the world. There is nothing more important than today so relax and enjoy the preciousness of your life.

Mindful Walk

Nature doesn’t hurry yet everything is accomplished.  ~LaoTzu

One of the best ways to elongate time is to go out into nature. The quiet energy of growing things breathes something uniquely healing into our bodies. It is even more powerful to walk with a sense of awareness. Awareness is “aliveness” and to be fully alive in this moment is what makes time blossom.

Below you will find a list of activities designed with this in mind. Set the timer on your smart phone for two minutes. For those two minutes, focus on the first activity fully. When the two minutes are up, set the timer for another two minutes and use it to focus on the next activity until you have worked your way down the whole list. Enjoy the beauty of these fully alive minutes of your life.

• Notice the color green
• Notice something small
• Notice the beauty of the trees
• Notice the grace of something moving
• Smell the warm air
• Think of the memories the aromas around you evoke
• Notice the clouds
• Focus on a sound as far away as possible
• Listen to the music of a repetitive sound
• Notice the beauty of your hands
• Feel the muscles in your legs
• Feel the sensations of the air
• Feel the texture of something close by
• Feel the temperature
• Notice something you take for granted
• Notice something impermanent
• Notice something dying
• Notice something that makes you feel small
• Notice the details of something

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Torri’s book is available for purchase here.