The Beauty of Slow Living | The Quote That Changed How I Saw Life

Summary of the video “The Beauty of Slow Living | The Quote That Changed How I Saw Life”

Understanding Slow Living

Slow living is often misunderstood as incompatible with busy modern lives (00:01).
It emphasizes intentional living over productivity for its own sake, challenging the norms of hustle culture (01:34).

Critique of Hustle Culture

Modern life glorifies constant busyness, valuing side hustles as achievements (00:36).
True fulfillment comes not from relentless labor but from enjoying the fruits of it and living in the present (01:03).

The Transformational Quote

A life-changing quote inspired the speaker to embrace a simpler, more present life: “To live content with small means… hurry never” (02:38).
It encouraged noticing small, beautiful moments in daily life (03:54).

Practical Tips for Slow Living

Avoid comparisons to others or unattainable life goals; appreciate where you are now (04:24).
Embrace moments of stillness without multitasking, like enjoying a cup of tea without distractions (05:38).

Creating Small Joys in the Mundane

Beautify small areas of your space, like adding flowers to a bedside table or styling a kitchen window, to find charm amid chaos (06:09).

Reconnecting with Nature

Spending time outdoors can instantly uplift your mood and restore a sense of connection to something larger than yourself (07:15).

Digital Detox

Reducing time spent on phones and social media fosters more meaningful activities and self-reflection (08:20).

Savoring Ordinary Moments

Adopt a “cinematic mode” by noticing the sensory details of life: laughter, smells, sounds, and sights (09:00).

Philosophy of Slow Living

It’s not about perfect calm or an ideal lifestyle but finding beauty and joy in the repetitive, mundane aspects of life, like a sunrise (09:59).

Transcript:

(00:01) I think when people hear about slow living, they think it something that can’t apply to them. So many of us have lives that are anything but slow. Modern life seems to demand that we be everything. Every moment should be productive, not wasted. More efficiency… leads to more time to be filled with yet more productivity. But at what point does the time we are creating simple become free time.

(00:36) Hustle culture is massive at the moment… It’s seen as a badge of honour to not only put in a full days shift but to have a side hustle or two as well. Turns out the biggest side hustle is often teaching other people how to side hustle. I’m not saying it wrong to have ambition, drive or dreams. Not at all.

(01:03) But labour without being able to enjoy the fruits of it, I think that’s something I think were being tricked into believing is normal. If we are forever chasing the promise of tomorrow… will we ever be able to enjoy today? Slow living isn’t everyone living the same aesthetic lifestyle. It’s not about moving off grid to avoid the stresses of the modern world.

(01:34) It’s not about having lazy, unproductive days. Well not always anyway. Slow living might be better described as intentional living. Slowing down enough to notice what is important to you. And that’s different for everybody. I’m Bethany, I’m a Mum of three… I live in England and I came across slow living about a year and a half ago.

(02:10) With the arrival of my third little one, life became busier than I could ever have imagined. Particularly mentally… the amount of information I was having to juggle in my head it was overwhelming. I started realising that I was just willing myself through the days. And I didn’t want to feel like that. I wanted to feel present rather than simply being in survival mode.

(02:38) I came across this quote one day… and it honestly changed how I look at life. To live content with small means. To seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion. To be worthy not respectable, and wealthy not rich. To study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly, to listen to stars, birds, babes, and sages with open heart, to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never.

(03:27) In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony. All these moments in my life that I had been frustrated with, the feeling that my world had become so small and repetitive…I was missing the life that was happening right in front of me.

(03:54) So I decided to slow down enough to notice the moments that throughout my normal day, warmed my heart and brought a smile to my face. They are often the smallest sometimes silliest of things. But they are beautiful moments everywhere if only we will slow down enough to see them. I mean that’s a nice story and everything… but how you practically embrace slow living.

(04:24) Well here are some tips that I hope can help you. Constantly comparing your life to other peoples, to social media, particularly to your own expectations of where you should be by now in life. This is going to kill your joy so quickly. You may not be in the life you dreamt about yet, but you are here right now.

(04:59) If you can learn to appreciate the moment you are in, however small it may feel. You’ll start to feel happiness for all the small moments. This is something I actively remind myself to do. I don’t want my brain stimulated all the time. I already feel like my brain is being overloaded all day. So if I do have a moment to slow down, sit down and drink a cup of tea, to enjoy a bubble bath.

(05:38) I’ll try to not busy myself while I enjoy that small moment. I won’t use that time to make a to do list, to think about all the things that need sorting out, birthday parties, insurance deadlines, how the toothpaste is running out. I’ll enjoy that slow moment and instead of feeling like I have to be busy running the show, I’ll sit back and just enjoy it.

(06:09) It can often feel like we are staring at the same walls day after day. Seeing the same things every day, we start to see all the flaws, the things we would change if we had the time or money. Most of us can’t change everything we would like to in that moment. But I would say make a small area as beautiful as you can. That might be as small as adding some flowers next to your bed.

(06:38) For me I like to keep this area near my kitchen window, clear and styled for the seasons. I spend a lot of time here and I want it to feel as charming as I can be. It helps me keep perspective really… that my home might not be completely how I like it to be. But there is beauty amongst the chaos. Nature really knows what it is doing.

(07:15) It has a season and a time for everything. Being outdoors seems to instantly change my mood. Breathing the air, feeling the sun on my face, or wind or rain in England… It makes me feel connected to something beyond just myself. I find it hard to explain without breaking into singing The circle of life.

(07:39) But it’s that feeling of being part of something bigger… something that the modern world feels more and more disconnected from. So get out in nature… in your garden, a park, a lovely walk somewhere. It’s something I don’t always feel like doing… but hardly ever regret that I did. I know it’s the one tip everyone bangs on about.

(08:20) But the less you can be on your phone the better you will feel. We live in a age of min by min updates. Where trends change daily. So often I find myself mindlessly scrolling till I think to myself… Why am I looking at this. We often think “ah I wish I had more time to do something” more time to read, play with my kids, try that new recipe, excise more or finally get some well deserved self care.

(09:00) Maybe we are stealing more time from ourselves than we realize. I like to think of this as turning on cinematic mode in my day. I like to try to notice how a moment looks, sounds and feels. Just like in a film, different close ups, sounds, angles they will depict what the character is experiencing in that moment.

(09:30) So if I’m sitting there with my coffee, just for a moment I like to notice the sound of my child laughter change to a real belly laugh. The smell of the lavender next to me as a bee hovers by. The birds overhead suddenly rushing by. All little things that are easily missed, but they all bring a small joy to what could be a very ordinary moment.

(09:59) Slow living is about choosing to be present the moment you are in, to find simple joys throughout life’s busy moments. It’s not about achieving perfect calmness, having everything together. It’s recognizing that there is beauty in the mundane… there can be joy in repetition. After all we never tire of seeing a sunrise.”

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