The changing of the seasons is an important point in time to honour, to notice, and to slow down enough to appreciate. And as September has nearly come and gone — this quiet, in-between season — it feels like the right time to share where all of this began for me. Eight years ago I chose slow over busy. What nobody tells you about those changes is that they take time.
The moment it landed
The habits that have stuck — the ones that really serve me and help me to live intentionally — they took time and patience. What I learned - the hard way - was that big overhauls do not work. They last a few weeks and then the “old” habits, the social conditioning, the coping mechanisms we learned over a lifetime — yeah, they start to creep back in again. And so the cycle begins again.
What it looked like in practice
But I started with my biggest pain point — how I sourced my food. “Slowing down” in this context meant moving out of the crazy busy world of supermarket shopping, marketing and processed food. The noise around food, nutrition, urgent need for supplements and the fear that comes from not doing everything “right” had just become too much. So my first change was finding another option instead of the supermarket. For me it was Green Earth Organics — a farm in Galway that delivers veg boxes to your door; order online each week and have it delivered. I accept this was a big change but it didn’t feel like it — I was already ordering our groceries online from the supermarket for delivery so that part was the same. The big change was that everything in Green Earth Organics was unsurprisingly… organic. So I didn’t have to check labels. It was a step that led me down this slow living path. It was a choice that simplified my life more than I could have realised.
From there I moved on to reducing the number of processed foods we ate — again, a little easier because of our earlier shift. In terms of our home, moving to a lo-tox approach to cleaning, laundry and so on happened over time too. One product at a time. One change at a time.
“Slow is not the absence of movement. It is the presence of intention. Slow is not stagnant — it is intentional living.”
The shift that changed everything
The biggest impact probably came from my personal slowing down. I started to build a daily practice of meditating — I failed and failed to make it a mainstay in my day. I was trying to make it perfect and lengthy and it would become a chore.
But I knew this was key to my personal slowing down. I knew that until I was able to quieten my mind and my body, that overthinking, stress and tension would take over. So I tried again — by starting with two minutes. I built a little routine into it because that helps me. I would light a candle, play the same meditation track and I did that two minutes, every day, for weeks. Then I moved to 5 minutes… then after another couple of weeks, 10 minutes and so on. The point wasn’t the length of time. It was the practice of giving myself that space of quiet and slowing down at the start of my day.
Now, nearly two years later, I have a daily practice. A space I give myself every day, no matter what is going on in my life. Sometimes it’s 5 minutes. Sometimes it’s an hour.
In this space I can just be. I can slow down enough to quieten my mind. I can tune in to how I’m feeling, how my body is feeling, where I’m feeling tension and where that might be coming from.
It is from this state that I live a more intentional life. Because in this space I know what’s important to me, what serves my values and my vision of the life I want to live.
What I’d offer you
The modern world values busy-ness and doing and productivity. I value be-ing, peace, connection and moving in sync with the natural world — and I genuinely think that’s what will bring us to our full potential and purpose.
I’m not telling you this to suggest this is how everyone should live or organise their lives — only you know what works for your life. I’m telling you this to show you where I was, how I got clear on what was important to me, and how I went about making changes that go against the grain of how life is set up these days. If you feel you’re not living in a way that suits YOU, then my advice is to slow down a bit — to give yourself a chance to get clear on what would feel right.
Here are three gentle places to begin:
- If you’re short on time but no longer want to buy snacks with questionable ingredients — start making one quick recipe each week. A flapjack, power ball snacks, hob-popped popcorn, sesame oat squares, dates filled with nut butter. One snack that sounds good to you and doesn’t take long. That’s it. Just one.
- If you dislike the toxic smell of household cleaning products — choose one to swap out. Just one. (See my blog from a couple of weeks ago for where to start.)
- If you want to slow down — find 5 minutes in your day, the same time if possible, where you can sit undisturbed and learn how to quieten your mind using whatever tool speaks to you: yoga, breathwork, meditation, music, nature sounds — something that helps you come into the present moment. Commit to this practice and make it a non-negotiable in your daily routine, like having a shower or eating dinner.
If you’d like a space to slow down together, our next Rooted Connection gathering is on Wednesday 28th October. It’s an online space for guided meditation, habit building, and honest conversation about living with more purpose and joy. Come as you are.
Fómhar
The harvest season. A moment that allows us to slow down, if we allow it. As this month comes to a close, I am still knee deep in preserving apples, making apple crumbles and picking blackberries — enjoying this wonderful season. Wherever you are in that, I hope something here has landed.
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Until next time,
