With the coming arrival of Autumn, nature has a magnificent way to tell us that we should slow down. Except that not all of us know how to do it. We are running around most of the time. By the time we reach midday, we are exhausted. Why are we doing this? Was the human being created to achieve more and do everything at a high speed? 

I think not, but I presume we can achieve whatever we set our minds on, even when we decide that the time has come to slow down. That will only happen if we listen carefully to our inner clock, just as nature does.

Were you ever tempted to do things the old way, like people who lived a century ago? Were you ever tempted to be awakened by natural daylight and not by a clock, or have you ever replaced your phone alarm with an old-fashioned clock? Or have dinner with only candles and no electrical light at all?
If you never tried it, you must do it at least once. This new experience might eventually embark you on a journey that you never wish to end, or maybe not. It all depends on how you prefer to live your life now.

Slowing down takes courage. It takes away all that you are familiar with and gives another sense to your life. If you are willing to do so, you will see how it feels to live by the natural rhythm of things and not by the rushing energy that surrounds us all the time.

Autumn is the season that whispers to your years: "It is time to slow down, even if you don't wish to. It is time to reap what you have sown and prepare for winter."

The days are shorter, and the night becomes longer, so you can at least slow down in the evenings. It is time to get cosy on your comfortable sofa, slowly drink a cup of warm tea, and read a great book.

How can we slow down when the electric light is at our disposal and allows us to work late? How can we manage to say no to everything that has been left undone for the day?

That decision belongs only to you. The art of slowing down takes practice. You need to take one thing at a time and repeat it until becomes a part of you. Allow yourself time to learn and mark every night in your journal if you practised that one thing that made you slow down.

One great way to practice this art is to remove items from your usual routine, like checking your e-mails before breakfast or checking messages from your mobile phone. Replace these items with a book or with writing down your thoughts that come to mind when you wake up. While you have your breakfast, continue focusing on your environment and don't get distracted by your devices. Try to put them away in a drawer. Once you don't see them, you will be less tempted.

We were taught to believe that we need them, but in reality, we don't need them as much as we think we do. I am not telling you to renounce your daily routine and stop using your items. I am just inviting you to become aware of how much time they take away from you. That precious time that cannot ever return to you.

If we hurry to do things fast, we can't focus well on doing them properly. Another wonderful way to slow down is going out in nature to observe the transition from one season to another. This season, we can observe closely the changing of the colours of the leaves from the trees. We can also take evening walks and observe the changing location of the sun when it sets. Activate your senses and smell the air changing. It feels crispier as time passes. Try to notice the sensations you feel in your body while you walk in nature, and try to compare them to how you felt those sensations a month, or two months ago.

Try to talk with your friends about slowing down, and if they try it, how this affects their daily routine.

The Art of Slowing down is not for everyone. If you need to access it more, listen to what your inner wisdom tells you to do, and when you forget how you should do it, invite yourself to nature and observe it.

Whether is spring, a bud never speeds up its process to bloom earlier, whether is summer, a leaf never changes its green colour if the time has not come yet, whether is autumn, the leaves never fall from the tree except for when their time has come, whether is winter the trees will stay bare as long as they need.

Every season has its special way of telling us: "Do not rush! Everything needs to happen when the time is right."

Slowing down benefits us in numerous ways. The stress fades slowly, we become more focused, we are happier, and we spread this happiness all around us. The anxiety starts to gradually disappear. We are starting to feel that we are living the good life.

I heard a beautiful phrase once that I will never forget: "Everything on my way has its perfect timing, and I will never be late." I would like to add more to that phrase: "What I need to experience on my journey is neither early nor late. All comes to me when the time is right. Although things come to me when the time is right I need to listen to my innate wisdom and do my part."

Slowing down makes us aware of what we have and never what is lacking.

Make sure to check your schedule every day and see if everything you need to accomplish during that day, can be done with the reassurance of slowing down.