Welcome back to the show, where we share insights on physical and mental wellbeing, nature’s way.
Over the past couple of episodes we’ve learnt from Mother Nature, five simple guidelines for health, plus the governing rule of Playful Curiosity that we should apply to them.
It’s time now to dig a little deeper.
Over the coming weeks we are going to expand upon each of these five guidelines.
This week we’re going to tackle Guideline One: Live Slowly and Sleep Deeply.
As I hope you’ll find out, this is a true foundation of wellbeing. And, like most things in nature, goes much deeper than first impressions suggest.
So without further ado, let’s open up the floor to Mother Nature for another fascinating conversation.
Chris: Welcome back to the show Mother Nature.
Mother Nature: It’s nice to be back, Chris.
Chris: So over the past couple of weeks you kindly shared with us your five guidelines for wellbeing.
Each of them make sense on the surface, but I get the impression they go much deeper than our first impressions.
Over the coming weeks I’d like to dig a little deeper into each of these topics, so my listeners and I fully understand them.
Mother Nature: Absolutely, Chris. Where would you like to start?
Chris: Well, let’s start at the beginning with guideline one – Live slowly and sleep deeply.
Now I think I understand what you mean by “Sleep deeply”, so we’ll discuss that shortly.
But “Live slowly”. What do you mean by that?
Mother Nature: That’s a great place to start, Chris.
Let me ask you. What does living slowly mean to you?
Chris: I’ll be honest with you, I’m not sure. Life is fast-paced but I’m not entirely sure why.
If I speak for myself and my family, days seem to be zooming by faster and faster.
We get up, feed our daughter then get her to school, go straight to work and grind all day, get home, cook dinner and have some family time, put our daughter to bed, tidy up the mess we created around the house then go to bed ourselves.
Then the next day my wife and I simply rinse and repeat. So I guess I measure a ‘Fast pace’ by how busy I am.
Mother Nature: Yes. That’s one way to look at it.
Chris: I get the feeling you’re going to ask me to see things differently.
Mother Nature: Well what you describe here is your ‘Long to-do list’, and everybody has a long to-do list, don’t they.
I’d argue that you can live that ‘To-do list’ at a fast pace or a slow one.
Chris: Okay? So are you saying that, to live slowly, you don’t need to have less to do?
Mother Nature: Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.
Let’s compare your life to the Dalai Lama’s, for example. Who’s living the faster pace?
The Dalai Lama has the responsibility of being the spiritual leader of an entire nation, is an international speaker, campaigns for Tibet’s independence from China, has written or co-authored over 500 books and is a consistent public figure. And that’s just what YOU get to see.
You, however, have a pretty average life.
Chris: Well clearly the Dalai Lama has a faster pace of life than me.
Mother Nature: Well, I’d argue that YOU have the faster pace.
Chris: Oh, give over! I know I like to complain about how hard my life is sometimes. But seriously, you think my life is harder than the Dalai Lama’s?!
Mother Nature: No. It’s not harder. Not by a long way. It’s faster.
Chris: Okay. I’m definitely missing something here. You’re going to have to get to the punch line.
Mother Nature: Your life is only as ‘fast-paced’ as your mind is.
Chris: Life is only as fast paced as your mind is.
Are you saying that the Dalai Lama is physically far busier than me, but my mind is far busier than his? And that’s what makes for a fast pace of life?
Mother Nature: Well done Chris.
Let me explain this so we’re completely clear.
Everyone is busy. There is nothing unique to you there. Some people are so busy it’s almost unimaginable how they achieve so much. Like the Dalai Lama.
However, I do not measure the speed at which you live life by the length of your ‘to-do list’. I measure it by how fast your mind is running.
The less time your mind has to rest, the faster you will perceive your life to be.
Chris: Oh wow. So the first part of your Guideline – Live slowly – doesn’t mean cancelling your commitments, finding a less demanding career, or dreaming of retirement.
It means slowing your mind down. Maybe you can even embrace how physically busy you are, if you’re not filling every waking moment with over thinking.
Mother Nature: Yes, exactly. To ‘Live slowly’ means to embrace life with all its busyness, whilst allowing your mind to remain peaceful.
Chris: Do you have any suggestions for how we might practise slowing our minds down?
Mother Nature: Well there are as many ways to slow the mind as there are minds on this planet. By which I mean – what helps to slow the mind is slightly different for everyone. But here are a few general ideas that apply to all of you.
Take a moment to focus on your breath – breathing lightly and slowly, as if making it imperceptibly quiet for a few rounds, can slow your nervous system down enough to calm the mind.
Open up your peripheral vision – The faster your mind, the more tunnelled your vision becomes. Widening that vision, so you can pay attention to the very periphery of it, can help your mind slow down.
Another option is to come visit me and let me calm your mind – spending some time in nature, and paying attention to it, allows me to calm your mind for you. I can help even if your access to nature is only a city park, a small garden, or a potted plant on a desk. That’s honestly all it takes if you pay attention. I’ll personally help your mind slow down if you spend 20 minutes or more with me. Obviously the more immersed you are, the easier it is for me to do my work.
Rather than any prescription for slowing the mind, however, remember the Governing Rule – just approach living slowly with Playful Curiosity.
Experiment with noticing when your head is running fast and play with any ideas that come to mind that you think might slow it down.
Some of your ideas will work. Some won’t. That’s okay. Just be curious. Keep the ideas that help and bin the knees that don’t.
Chris: These are such simple ideas, Mother Nature, thank you.
I notice that you didn’t mention meditation here. Why is that?
Mother Nature: Meditation is an excellent tool for slowing the mind. But it’s an option that works extremely well for some, yet others find it frustrating beyond belief.
As always, it’s about being curious about finding out whether it works for you.
The suggestions I’ve given, especially the first two – breathing lightly and opening your peripheral vision – actually lay the foundation for meditation in many ways.
You can also do them whilst you’re busy with your ‘to-do list’. And that’s the goal here. Be productive, but do so with a slow, calm, peaceful mind. That way you’ll sleep much more deeply.
Chris: Thank you for that answer, Mother Nature. And it was a perfect segway to the second half of your guideline too.
How can we “Sleep deeply”?
Mother Nature: Live slowly!
Chris: No, I mean how do we help ourselves to sleep better, so we can wake up feeling more refreshed?
Mother Nature: And I mean to sleep more deeply you should try to live more slowly.
You can’t expect to zoom through your day with a busy mind and expect it to just slow down the second you climb into bed.
How you sleep is a byproduct of how you spent your day.
Chris: Oh, that makes sense. The brain is switching gears to do the night shift, and it needs time to slow down.
Mother Nature: Yes exactly. Even if you can live more slowly in the evening it will help you sleep better.
Chris: I see. And I guess we have to remember that by ‘living slowly’ you don’t mean time spent on the couch in front of the TV. That’s just a lack of physically doing something. It’s not slowing your mind down, is it.
Mother Nature: Exactly, Chris. To sleep more deeply, it’s important to have a calm mind in the hours leading up to going to bed. Some television programmes can promote this, but others keep the mind whizzing.
Chris: And I guess social media scrolling busy’s the mind too?
Mother Nature: Yes, that too. But remember not to get caught up in what is right and wrong. Everyone has their way to slow their mind.
Again, it’s about Playful Curiosity. Or in this case, Calming Curiosity.
If you feel relaxed in your body and mind leading up to going to bed, then you’re probably doing ok. If you feel tense in body or mind then maybe it’s time to play with other evening routines.
Chris: Yes, it’s easy to get caught up in what we should and shouldn’t be doing.
What I’m learning from you is that, in order to live slowly and sleep deeply, we have to let go of over analysing everything, feeling guilty or being rigid in routines that actually don’t serve us.
Instead, we should let go of the pressure we put ourselves under and allow our minds to slow down naturally.
Mother Nature: Got it in one, Chris.
Chris: Haha. Thanks!
Okay, seeing as I’m doing so well, let’s see if I can summarise what I’ve learnt today.
Mother Nature: Great idea. Let’s see what you’ve got.
Chris: The first rule of wellbeing in Nature’s formula is to ‘Live slowly and sleep deeply’.
Living slowly doesn’t mean having nothing much to do though. Sure, it helps not to be too busy, but having little to do promotes idleness, and idleness doesn’t provide a productive or interesting life.
You can be extremely busy and productive, yet live slowly, like the Dalai Lama.
Living slowly is not a product of how busy you are, but how calm your mind is whilst you’re getting about your day.
What Mother Nature intended for us was simply to live a life where our minds are not stuck in overdrive.
From ancient philosophers to modern human sciences, we’ve learned that calming the mind has all sorts of health benefits. Helping in everything from mental focus to managing depression and anxiety.
Living slowly also has a useful side effect. It helps you sleep better.
We can’t expect the mind to simply switch gears the minute we climb into bed. It takes time to slow down and prepare itself for all the work it needs to do whilst you’re asleep. You can significantly help it do that if you slow down during the day.
But, as Mother Nature likes to remind us often, living slower and sleeping deeper won’t happen overnight. It takes practice and experimentation.
If you apply the Governing Rule of Playful Curiosity, you can learn to find what works best for you. Helping you develop a calm, clear mind and sleep more deeply at night.
Mother Nature: Excellent work, Chris.
Chris: Now, it crosses my mind at this point that we’re going to get some kick back from social commenters on our conversation today.
We’ve spoken about slowing the mind down, but it occurs to me that some people are going to say that they thrive on a fast mind. Which I would tend to agree with.
How slow do we need to go?
Mother Nature: Everything in nature, Chris, is on a spectrum. There is no perfect size or shape to a tree now, is there. Trees grow in all shapes and sizes, but they are all perfectly recognisable as trees.
The same is true for living slowly. It’s a spectrum.
If the person is calm, functioning well and sleeping optimally we will all be able to recognise that this is a healthy mind. Even if their mind is still capable of running faster than yours.
Chris: I think I understand what you’re saying.
At the faster end of the spectrum might be an ADHD mind. If they slow down a bit (often with medication) their mind becomes clearer, sharper and they tend to sleep better too.
But ‘Slow’ for them is equivalent to my mind in serious danger of meltdown. I doubt my mind has ever worked that fast. I’m closer to the other end of the spectrum I’d say. Super laid back!
So living slowly is about taking just enough cognitive load off for the mind to function optimally.
Mother Nature: Exactly, Chris. Everyone lives at the speed of their nature. No judgement. There is no one-size-fits-all here.
Chris: Brilliant. I love that. Everyone lives at the speed of THEIR Nature. That’s one to remember.
Thank you for your guidance today, Mother Nature. You’ve helped me to reframe what a fast-paced life really means.
I can assure you I’ll be taking steps to live more slowly and sleep more deeply.
Mother Nature: You’re welcome, Chris.
So there you have it. The first of our five guidelines is simple, yet profound.
Being busy and having lots on your to-do list is normal for us all. It’s how busy we allow our minds to become that causes us to suffer and feel like life is zooming by at an ever accelerating pace.
Take a moment now, if you can, to slow down any racing thoughts. Focus on your breath, widen your vision or take a few minutes to notice nature around you. Even if nature you can access right now is only found in the clouds passing overhead. Mother Nature has a way of calming you when you pay her just a little attention.
If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, then please support the work we’re doing by subscribing to the podcast. And if you’re interested in learning more, please visit the links in the show notes to more resources on my website.
And remember, great health emerges naturally, when you allow Mother Nature to guide you.
