1.) Wake up and lie in bed for a few minutes without the urge to jump out and start doing your morning tasks. Just lie there and express gratitude. When you get out of bed, raise/open the blinds to let natures ray of light come in. Make it a daily habit to cozy up the bedding.

2.) Take your time. Brush your teeth in a slower motion. Shower longer. Do the dishes calmly and relax while loading them. Take your time vacuuming, organizing, putting clothes away. Remain mindful to take your time.

3.) Breathe properly. Sometimes we forget to take in the proper amount of air needed for our brains to get oxygen. Do some breathing exercises daily until you get more familiar with the slow living.

4.) Mindfulness needs to be practiced every minute of every waking day in order to remind ourselves to slow down. Once we start telling ourselves over and over again to slow down, wait a minute…we can then start feeling the impact it has on our overall wellness.

5.) Give the worry to the master, the universe. This was a hard one for me because I constantly worried about my kids, my career, my living situation and a lot of that worry derived from wanting a certain lifestyle to happen more quickly. But, the fact that I was rushing things and vibrating too fast, my energy with the universe resisted everything I wanted to happen. And, it wasn’t until I stopped worrying about literally everything that I started noticing change.

6.) Start walking without the phone or even doing a yoga session or something to get away from the busy, fast paced life of social media, emails, etc.

7.) Declutter little things every single day until you feel like your stuff isn’t smothering you. It is the only way to embrace slow living naturally. We must remove things in order to welcome new people, things and experiences again.

8.) Be very mindful with your self care routines. It wasn’t until my eldest started her career as an esthetician did I pamper myself like I deserved. It’s ever so crucial to take the time to provide proper self care to ourselves. Facials. Spas. Massages. Relaxation. Eating healthy. Proper exercise. Therapy. Exploring new places. Riding a bike. Bathing calmly. Creating the space that we like and want.

9.) Part of my slow living journey started when I stopped shopping for things I no longer had interest in. I just didn’t need any of it. Put yourself on a shopping ban for a few weeks and notice how different you feel. The old saying, shopping is therapy went out the door.

10.) Learn to say no. I wasn’t able to embrace my slow living journey until I did this. And you don’t have to say it out loud if you don’t wish. You can ignore people, places and toss the things that you just don’t like anymore.