If you long to live a simpler life, you’ll love these tips about slow living simplified. In just a few minutes, you can slow down and enjoy the world around you.
Allow me to introduce you to one of my blogging friends from the U.K., Eleanor from Creative Countryside. She is a kindred spirit who writes wonderfully about the concept of slowing down, being present, practicing gratitude, living a simple life, and appreciating the rhythms and seasons of nature.
Her posts are accompanied by lovely photos from around her home and the British countryside. Eleanor generously agreed to share some of her thoughts about living slowly, which I know you will enjoy.
You’ve probably heard of simple living, of conscious living and of mindful living, but what remains less well known is the concept of slow living.
Shifting the focus from quantity and speed to quality of life remains at its core, and its effects have been transformative for me.
Over at Creative Countryside I blog and teach others about this lifestyle, and today I’m so happy to be writing about slow living for Eliza here at Happy Simple Living.
Let’s get one thing straight before going any further. Slow living doesn’t literally mean doing everything at a slower speed. Don’t get me wrong, this might apply for some activities, but on the whole slow living is more concerned with prioritising your time in order to appreciate simple pleasures.
It’s a process of reconnection: with the world around you, with the seasons, but most of all with the things you love to do, that somehow get so easily lost in the chaos of modern life.
Slow living embraces a simple lifestyle full of home-cooked meals, traditional celebrations and rituals and time spent wisely. There will never be enough hours in the day, but we can shape and mould the time we have according to our wishes and desires, and once we can do that, we’re able to live more slowly, mindfully and with care.
So how can you embrace slow living and all it entails? Well firstly, I want to say upfront that my own experience with lifestyle change has taught me that nothing happens overnight. You’re not going to read this article and change everything by tomorrow evening, so patience (something I’m really not very good at!) is key.
If (like me) you like to get started straight away here are some simple tips for embracing slow living that you can implement right now.
5 Ways to Practice the Art of Slow Living
1. Cook a Meal From Scratch
Try to buy local and seasonal ingredients, and take your time to enjoy the cooking process. Just before eating pause for a minute and be gracious for the simple pleasure of a delicious dinner.
2. Get Grounded
If you’re feeling a little disconnected with nature and the world around you, take a few moments to get grounded by standing outside barefoot. Scrunch your toes and feel the blades of grass tickling the underside of your feet.
It doesn’t matter if it’s raining or cold – stand for however long feels natural and take a few deep breaths, embracing the weather that surrounds you.
3. Invite Nature Inside
Bring nature into your home by picking a few stems from the garden, or to keep it simple bring in some greenery to display on your mantelpiece. For just a few minutes of activity you’ll have a week or so of pleasure.
4. Celebrate the Season
Pick out a seasonal celebration that’s on the horizon and make plans to celebrate. In the UK Lammas – signifying the first day of harvest – is on the horizon (1st of August) so we’ll be making corn dollies and baking Lammas bread. Invite friends and family, and plan to cook up a feast to celebrate.
5. Wake Up Early
Tomorrow, set your alarm for 10 minutes earlier than usual, grab your camera or notebook and get outside. It doesn’t matter if you’re still in your pajamas, bleary eyed and a little off balance – the whole point is to rebalance your awareness as the day begins.
Depending on where you live you’ll be privy to the sunrise if you’re up early enough, and observing this primitive ritual is a stark reminder of a greater existence.
While these tips can really make a difference right now, changing your lifestyle to live more slowly does – rather aptly – take time.
Often we become so used to hurtling through our to-do lists at speed that we don’t realise that there could be any other way, and that life doesn’t have to be quite so chaotic.
Changing that mind-set is a process that has to be worked through like any other, but I can guarantee you it’s worth it.
Thank you, Eliza, for allowing me to share my passion with your readers!
How About You?
Do you have suggestions or ways you’ve been able to explore living a slow and simple life? Drop a comment below!
This post was original published on July 3, 2015 and was updated on July 22, 2023.
Eliza Cross is the creator of Happy Simple Living, where she shares ideas to help busy people simplify cooking, gardening, holidays, home, and money. She is also the award-winning author of 17 cookbooks, including Small Bites and 101 Things To Do With Bacon.
Lovely! Thank you for these thoughts. I especially like the suggestion to stand outside barefoot. When I do this, I can almost feel my spirit grounding as my bare [footed] body communes with the earth.
What a beautiful description, Kariane. It’s funny, but that’s one of the first things I did after I read Eleanor’s article and I felt that deep connection, too. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. xo
Hello Eliza,
Its a very nice blog you have. I think slow living is really a good way to embrace life as well as ourselves. Feeling the morning fresh air is my way in which i embrace slow living. It also creates the positive aura even i have also started a new blog about Living Positive. I would really appreciate if you could visit and give your views on that also.