Slowly Slowing Down

So far this week, I have been sticking better to slowing down mentally than I have been slowing down physically.  It has been a full past few days, but I have felt like I actually enjoyed it more and stressed less because I was mindful about slowing my thoughts down and being engaged in the present.  

Normally my mind is whirring and on to the next five things I want or need to do - just ask my husband.  :)  I ALWAYS have a plan for EVERYTHING.  And probably a couple of back-up plans.  And I can get pretty bent out of shape if someone or something messes with that plan without my permission.

I think that part of slowing down for me is letting go of some of that need to control "the plan" all the time.  Instead of being distracted by trying to make sure things go exactly as I planned in my mind, I am learning/trying to engage more in what is actually happening.  I am savoring the "flavor" of the moment instead of rushing through it to get on to the next check point.  

It helped a lot that we had a mini vacation this weekend for Doad's birthday.  We "unplugged" almost completely and spent our time just soaking up the weekend of rest and celebration.  We napped, we read, we walked, and we enjoyed each other's company immensely.  I still found myself planning out our time in my head, but with that vacation mentality it was a lot easier to let go of the need for plans to go exactly as I had mapped it out in my mind and just soak up the fun time that we were having regardless of what we were doing.  

The trick will be if I can keep this mindset in the everyday normal stuff when I have real responsibilities and chores on my check-off list.  I really enjoy the peace that comes with this kind of flexibility and slowness.  I also think I'm more productive when I'm actually focusing on what  I'm doing instead of trying to map out the next couple of hours in my head.  Shocker!  My natural tendency is to try to cram too many activities into one day and I end up disappointed and frustrated when certain things take longer than I allotted for in my plan.   As you can guess, I've often ended up frustrated and disappointed.  :/ 

I'm still figuring out the balance between prioritizing and getting all the day-to-day responsibilities done while minimizing the stress and disappointment of not being... well, super-human, I guess.  It's tricky, that's for sure.  But there's something to this whole slowing down, being mindful and aware thingy.  It's good for my spirit and I'm hoping I can make this a mindset that sticks.

How is the balancing/slowing going for everyone else?  What moments have you "savored" lately?