Slow living – a strive for positivity, well-being and good tasting coffee
My name is Hannah Ellen Ingelsten, I own the Instagram account @hannah.vivere, I’m a former mental health and cozy-life blogger, now running my own café whilst working to be a writer. In my past years, I’ve studied courses in Neuroscience, Positive Psychology and consciousness, I’m meditation trained and still reading and learning a lot about the calm ways of creating a life that feels your own, not owned by someone else’s values. Check out my Instagram for some cozy inspiration, I promise you and myself to never force a concept on you, because people are different, have different days, and values different things in life. Your life is and always will be – your own.
Recently, I’ve come to the realization that I cannot drink coffee whilst standing up, doing something else. I get stomach aches, and frankly, the coffee doesn’t taste that good either. Often when I’m at work, I do at least three things at the same time. I run my own café, serving breakfast and coffee all day, whilst also being in meetings, planning events, looking over our economics, and so on. So, if I want coffee, which I at that time honestly only want because of me needing energy, I must drink whilst standing up, not being able to feel calm, or aware of the taste and soothing feelings coffee usually gives me. This morning, when I was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping coffee out of that small ceramics mug I happily found in an old vintage shop the other day, searching Christmas decoration ideas on Pinterest and waiting for my partner to wake up – I realized that when coffee tasted best, it’s when I’m sitting it down, taking it slow. Just like I did right there.
When I first heard about Slow Living, just the words itself got to me, I related to them. Living slow, taking your time. I though it sounded so nice, comfortable and positive. And for those who know me, you know that positive vibes and a cozy life is my two of my greatest values in life. Whilst studying Neuroscience and Positive psychology, I realized more and more just how much the term Slow Living really can affect people and help them to create a life of more well-being and happiness. The term – Slow Living - acts perfectly well together with things like mindfulness and meditation, simple living, well-being and gratitude. To be able to feel more happy and energetic in life, a good idea is to delete as much stress and hyperactivity you can from life. And that’s where Slow Living comes in, perfectly. To me, Slow Living equals patience. To let things, take its time. It also means to live close to your emotions, and to allow yourself to be flexible with your schedule so you can rest if you feel low, or get a lot of work done if you feel energized and exited. On a more personal level, I feel that is also is about living with the nature, by living slow, you can also take better care of the environment, cause you're taking time for sorting out your garbage (I believe that there’s two ways of seeing that: physical and psychological cleaning), get time to be outdoors on nice days, if it is for a walk in the forest, taking the bicycle to work instead of a car, or to just relax and read a book on a park bench in the city.
So, when you think about it, me not being able to taste or even finish my coffee whilst standing up – it makes sense, right? Because I’m not taking it slow. But when I have a long and calming morning, at my favorite place by the kitchen table opposite the window, drinking from my favorite cup (that I consciously picked out because I literary have a hundred cups and mugs to choose from, it’s my guilty pleasure) whilst doing something that inspires me, that cup of coffee is one of the tastiest, most energizing things I know in life. Why? Well, you guessed it. When living slow, you enjoy things much more than when you’re running around, being stressed and holding deadlines to make.
To finish this off, I’m going to tell you a few key things you can think about, or do to live more according to the Slow Living concept. One, take some time to figure out what’s your key values in life. That helps you prioritize your day and doings. Next, try to clean out your schedule a bit. With a cleaner calendar, you can take more time to your daily goals, thus be able to do things slow without having to feel the constant pressure of a deadline. And at last, try being more mindful – in everything that you do. Notice how things taste, does your morning coffee taste a lot better if you’re sitting down next to a good book or a good view or some good music? Then compare it to how it feels when you’re doing that during a stressful hour. After this you’ll surely find that there’s a huge difference between being in full speed throughout your day and taking one thing at the time, being patient and mindful, always striving for a calmer and cozier every-day-life.
