The Sunday S.L.O.W. Down #1

Dealing with Comparison, Selecting Your Emotions, Affirmations & Tarot Pull

Aug 18, 2024

The Sunday S.L.O.W. Down is a weekly self—care menu that serves as fun and playful reminder to be gentle with your self and stop & smell the roses.

5 Affirmations for Sunday 8/18:

Last week is over. A new week is beginning. I am lucky to be alive, enjoying it all.
My self worth is not measured by my productivity metrics. I am inherently worthy and special regardless of what I accomplished this week.
I decide the pace I move. I am most inspired when I move at the rhythm that makes sense for me.
I deserve breaks and rest.
It’s okay that I get side-tracked and distracted. I am walking my own path. The detours are what make the journey special.

Personal Sunday Reflection 8/18:

I started living a slower life recently and I’ve never felt so liberated. I wanted to share my learnings in hopes of helping others slow down and appreciate all the beauty life has to offer.

If you’re looking for micro-ways to slow down, feel free to steal or edit my list below.

For me, slowing down looks like:

Waking up naturally, and journaling 3 pages while I drink warm water with lemon
Taking shorter, more frequent breaks throughout the day instead of working until I realize I’m starving, I haven’t had a glass of water in 3 hours, and I haven’t gotten out of my office all day
Starting to get ready for bed WELL before I am tired (around 8:30pm) and taking my time on all my self-care items before settling into bed instead of rushing through

Tarot Pull for This Week

The Lovers

The Lovers card is all about bringing two equal forces together, or allowing them to go their own separate way with love and respect for their individuality. This week is about either integrating two realities or embracing one reality and letting the other go with grace and love. Trust your intuition to make the correct choice for you. Once the choice is made, carry it out with conviction.

The Sunday S.L.O.W. Down 8/18

Slowing down is completely new to me. For the last 30 (!!) years, I've lived a life where I was always rushing from one thing to the next, cramming and jamming as many tasks, appointments, & to-do’s into one day as possible. I’m learning to “slow as I go” and sharing with anyone who wishes to slow down, even just a little.

A little preview for this week:

(S)miling At
(L)etting Go of
(O)pening Up To
(W)orking on
with a journal prompt at the end :)

Here’s my S.L.O.W. down for the week

5 Things that made me smile this week:

Book: The book Swan Song By Elin Hilderbrand - I love a gossipy, dramatic read set in a beach town. This book is complete with mystery, affairs, crime, and allllll sorts of naughty behavior. It hit the spot - I couldn’t put it down!
Clothing: This robe from Dairy Boy - I can’t get enough of this robe. I wear it during my morning & evening routine. It’s the perfect cozy terry cloth - great for winding down for sleep or winding up for the day.
Accessory: New bag from Dairy Boy - I’m venturing into tradwife territory wearing this cute pink gingham bag to farmers markets + coffee shops. I’m obsessed!
Music: Lana del Rey complete - The perfect moody soundtrack for this gloomy weather. I love working with this playlist on shuffle.
Article: Summer to Autumn Transitions - I am a summer girl through and through but this list by
caitlyn
got me so excited for all the fall feels to come. I cannot wait for soup, cozy movies, and leaves changing colors!

1 Thing I’m Letting Go Of: Comparison

Competing and comparing have ALWAYS been a struggle of mine.

The difference between competing and comparing is:

Competing is an obsession with winning, resulting in action taking.
Comparing is an obsession with observing, resulting in inaction/paralysis.
Competing means: what other people are doing = my motivation to get out of bed in the morning.
Comparing means: what other people are doing = my struggle to get out of bed every morning.
Competing says “I must be better than her/him/them”.
Comparing says “I’ll never be better than her/him/them, so what’s the point?”

The issue: I’ve been going my Substack page so much lately. It’s been exciting and rejuvenating to have a creative outlet, create work I’m proud of (even though it’s not perfect) and connect with other writers. But, we seeing the follower count of other writers (and how fast they are growing week over week) took the wind out of my sails. It was a classic case of comparison - “Other writers are better/bigger, so I’ll just quit while I’m behind.”

The antidote: I coach corporate employees on how to deal with these mindsets and my antidote to comparison is decreasing stimulation.

When we over-stimulate ourselves with what other people are doing, we lose energy for what we can do.

It zaps our confidence and creativity. You may remember your grade school teacher saying “Keep you eyes on your own paper.” That saying applies here.

For me, decreasing stimulation, not only means NOT looking at other creators follower count/engagement rates, but also, MORE time to rest and create in my own little world.

Today I’m snuggling up in a coffee shop with a peach blossom tea, my Lana del Rey playlist, and a vegan raspberry muffin. It’s like medicine.

Are you subconsciously comparing to anyone? Where can you decrease your stimulation by even 10%.

Leave a comment

One Thing I’m Opening Up To: Selecting My Emotions

This week I listened to a 15 minute podcast by Abraham hicks that struck me.

The gist: An audience member described reacting to situations unfavorably and immediately regretting their reactions. I can relate to this BIG time.

The prescription: When we react unfavorably to any situation, it’s because we’re feeling undesirable emotions. Abraham’s prescription:

Focus on the undesirable emotion for a few minutes. What does it look and feel like to you?
Then, focus on an equal & opposite desirable emotion - what does that look and feel like?
The next time you begin to feel the undesirable emotion, simply tune into the feeling and select the opposite (more desirable) emotion.

My attempt: I’ll be honest this exercise sounded to good to be true, but I gave it a try any ways. We’re in the middle of a home renovation project and I was feeling stressed. When I’m under pressure, I tend to be short and curt with my responses to the person who I love the most (my husband). I HATE when I do this!!

So I tuned in to the feeling of PRESSURE-

How does it feel? Tense, tight, closed off.
How does it look? Tunnel vision, shortness, curt responses for no reason, short breaths from the chest.

What is the opposite feeling? WEIGHTLESSNESS-

How does it feel? Openness, vastness, lightheartedness.
How does it look? Laughter, big picture thinking, open minded approach, and deep breathing.

The next time I noticed the PRESSURE feeling popping up, I tuned into the tightness feeling and then imagined what it would feel like to feel WEIGHTLESS in that moment. & What do you know - it worked! I was able to shift my emotions in the moment and respond better to the situation.

After doing this one time, I’m now perfect, healed, and enlightened. Just kidding. BUT, I am going to to keep experimenting with this and I’ll let you know how it goes. It really did work in the moment though.

Last week, I launched a New Publication called S.L.U.M.B.E.R. Party, meant to highlight female voices on Substack. Episode 1 with Kayli on Embracing Sensuality is out now.
- Tune into Episode 2 with
  Gemma
  this Thursday for a master class on resilience! Subscribe now to get it sent straight to your inbox

What’s your S.L.O.W. Down for the week? Share with me in the comments :)

1 thing that made you smile:
1 thing you’re letting go of:
1 thing you’re opening up to:
1 thing you’re working on:
Bonus: What’s one negative emotion you want to feel less of? How does it look and feel to you? What is the opposite positive emotion you’d rather experience? What does it look and feel like to you? Try it on: *pay attention next time the undesirable emotion arises and replace it with the new emotion*