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Slow down, you move too fast
You got to make the morning last
Just kicking down the cobblestones
Looking for fun and feeling groovy
Ba da-da da-da da-da, feeling groovy

Simon and Garfunkel

The Hare and the Tortoise (Aesop’s fable)

So why is it good to “slow down” and be more Tortoise when feeling overwhelmed, stressed ? Lets check out Aesop’s fable:

“The fable of the Hare and the Tortoise is a story that teaches the lesson of “slow and steady wins the race.” In the story, the overconfident hare challenges the slow-moving tortoise to a race. The hare quickly takes the lead but becomes complacent and takes a nap. The tortoise, slowly but steadily, continues to move forward and eventually wins the race. This proving that consistent effort is more valuable than sporadic bursts of energy.

Often in life we find ourselves, like that hare, locked in a mad rush to achieve our goals. We don’t even imagine that there is a better way. In fact we think that we need to go faster and find ways to be more efficient and squeeze more into our day. Occasionally we dream of the challenges, which occupy our minds, and try and find a solution in our sleep. This can rob us of that valuable sleep time. Sleep is important as it restores us and unburdens us from the emotional content of the day.

For some, having that busy life is perfectly fine. For others this is a recipe for stress and overwhelm. With stress and overwhelm come the various emotions like anxieties, worries, depression and unhelpful coping habits.

So what can we do about that overwhelm and that mad hare rush?

How about slowing down a little and learning to be more relaxed?

Slowing down

“Slow down” as a success strategy / mental health strategy may seem counterintuitive. Often we may balk at the idea, especially when we have so much to do, so much stress to deal with. How can “slow down” be appropriate we ask ourselves. We are doing all those busy things to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe. Surely, we tell ourselves, that getting off the tread mill will mean more insecurity and more risk.

However, often the counterintuitive is what is needed.

Imagine looking for your lost keys in the same room over and over again and not finding them and then trying even harder to find them in that same room. Sometimes you have to look in a different place and do something different.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

Albert Einstein

How “Slow down” helps us take back control

Underpinning the “slow down” counterintuitive approach is the following psychology:

• When we slow down consciously and choice-fully we are taking back control of our reaction to our lives and their demands. We are telling the subconscious part of ourselves, which runs the show of our life, that we want something different to the current status quo, i.e. our busyness. By taking action and doing something different we are starting to break the automatic habit of our harmful behaviours. By doing something different we are creating a new habit, a new neurological pathway, which with repetition will become the new more healthier behaviour.

• An anxious, worrying and stressed state (the sympathetic nervous system) is usually a heightened and alert state. When stressed our bodies become tense, our breathing becomes faster and shallower and there’s a fight / flight instinct to our action. By slowing down and relaxing we are breaking that cycle of behaviour. Slowing down brings us into the more relaxed mindset (the parasympathetic nervous system).

The hypnotherapy perspective

• From a hypnotherapy perspective when we are anxious we are operating from the primitive mind, the mind that is responsible for short term safety, i.e. it’s responsible for our survival and originates in the cave people times. Unfortunately the primitive mind only sees the negative, which makes the situation worse, it also can’t innovate and come up with a new solution to our overwhelm.

• However when we slow down and relax we begin to operate from the intellectual / rational part of the brain. The intellectual mind sees the positive in our situation and is innovative and can come up with new solutions. The intellectual mind gives us a helpful perspective so we can see the wood for the trees. When we slow down we gain access to all the resources of the intellectual / rational mind and its problem solving capability. The problem solving capabilities were blocked to us when we were stuck in the primitive mind.

So slowing down and relaxing can really help us get back in control and start us on the way to a more balanced and secure future.

How to slow down

From the rational mind’s perspective we have to be realistic. When we are overwhelmed there is not a lot of brain power capacity to take action. There is not a lot of capacity to take big actions to turn ourselves around. Some people will have a clear realisation and make that grand gesture and make big changes quite quickly. However for others, like myself, another strategy is required.

That strategy is to slow down S L O W L Y.

When overwhelmed, we need to work within the limited capacity we have, and we do that by making small changes. It can be something as simples as taking an extra 5 minute break in the day, park the car a little further away so that we can walk and unwind, do something different (e.g. add the milk to your tea or visa versa), practice relaxing breathing, do a little jig, sing a song badly! (or well)

The magic of small steps is that they produce a disproportionately amount of change. Just like the silver lining in a storm filled cloud brings the sense of hope, so does small changes.

So lets value slowing down slowly and the making of small changes when anxious, overwhelmed or stressed.

Here’s some other blogs that can give some ideas:

• Happiness: How to find the 3 Peas of Happiness
• How to find in Every Cloud a silver lining
• Breath: How to take control of your Breath to deal with Stress
• How work life balance helps you?
• Smile : ” Ways a smile a day keeps the doctor away!”

Conclusion

So the concluding question is, are you living life as the mad hare or the slower more considered tortoise?

Accreditation:National Council of Hypnotherapy (NCH), Association of Solution Focused Hypnotherapy (AfSFH), Association of Neuro-linguistic Programmers (ANLP)