On living slowly...

She scrolled through Instagram, barely looking at the images, double tapping each one of them.. You give one, you get one.. Like for like. Double tapping had become second nature.. she found even on Facebook, she often instinctively double tapped images and then realized.. oh wait.. its Facebook...

She rushed through her shower, all the time dreaming of a bathtub surrounded by candles and crystals...her one time sacred "me time" had become another chore that just had to be finished, the room feeling claustrophobic.

As she rushed through layering cream onto her legs, every flaw seemed magnified, and she cringed at the scars and the pigmentation...

She felt life was rushing her by... the loss, the success, nothing seemed pleasing.. because it was always about the next thing... anxiety was eating her away and no matter how many likes and nights out there were.. the feeling like the breath was being squeezed out of her was never ending...

Slow living was only a hashtag she followed.. living it.. that was a whole different ballgame... Because her greatest fear was, if she slowed down, how would she achieve anything...

How do you live slow in a society that promises instant results and expects it from you too..I remember the days when you took a picture for your photo album to be printed and looked at to reminisce, and then Facebook came, and the likes you received almost became like a shot of cocaine . Enter Instagram, and everything is a photo op- from a simple coffee with friends, to bathroom selfies, to un boxing..

I think for so many people, the screen of a phone and the lens of a camera have replaced our eyes... It happened to me.. until i realized i had a phone full of images which i never looked at, was afraid to delete ( as if i'm never going to see a sunset again ) and life becomes a self absorbed journey. The opening image.. of that beautiful garden, is a woman who I saw was on her phone...taking a 100 pictures, rather than actually taking in the beauty of the surroundings. We take a picture to remember an experience.. but we never really have that experience most of the time.. we simply have the experience of taking a few pictures..

Slow living, has been around since over a two decades...an extension of the slow food movement, but I feel we need it more than ever now..

For me it is nothing more than mindfulness. Slow down enough and you will find time for all the things you enjoy and once loved. Fill your days with excessive technology - i wonder how much average time a person spends deleting forwards and good mornings...- and sure enough we're busier than bees...

Get off your phone, or your laptop..watch a movie in the cinema with a friend... sit by the ocean...don't just scroll through these things on your phone.. go do it.

Can you? and can you do it without announcing it to the whole world ?

How does that make you feel ? Does it scare you? Do you feel disconnected ?

I don't have anything against technology.. i love my whats app girls group. In my loneliest of moments when it hits me my parents aren't here, I know they are there... I love that the phone allows me to connect so easily, or share these thoughts of mine.. but I don't love it when people try to connect in a half hearted way.. conversation to fill the time..

Slow living for me is knowing that at work even if I don't make a sale today, or got even 30 likes on insta, I've still had a meaningful day with myself, with my loved ones.

When the time spent in the shower is time spent with myself and a chance to respect my body and show it some care. Candles and crystals are an everyday affair... you don't need a bathtub or to be on some exotic island..

Slow living is stopping and playing with my crystals , not just treating them as things to sell. Looking at the things I love to collect, shells from beaches, artwork by my neice , photos of my dad. Every day being inspired by beauty..

My very private instagram, scattered all over my room. The only likes it will get are from me..

Slow living is spending more time with people and less on technology.

More quality over quantity.

I haven't mastered it yet... but awareness / mindfulness has taken away a load of anxiety. The fear that I might be missing something, the perfect picture, or that documentary on Netflix.. the need to be successful by societies standards..

Being in and out of hospital almost a year has taught me to be patient ( that's why they call you a patient! ) and re evaluate whats important.

I have a greater appreciation for the people around me, my possessions, and surroundings. I consume more mindfully, and feel more grateful for all that comes my way..

It's a good way to live.... as someone who believes in reincarnation.. the concept of having only one life and trying to fit it all in sounds ridiculous.. I'm ok visiting just Rajasthan, and skipping France. I may miss a few sunsets now and then, but the sun is gracious enough to rise daily for me... and I may not have even 2 k followers on Insta right now.. but the account in my head, is the only one i want to scroll through..