Slow Down

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Tracy Seekins

Sometimes it feels like the world is going by us in a flash. It feels like time is moving faster and faster and we are just trying to keep up or catch up. The faster things seem to move, the faster we need to work at keeping up. It’s like running a race but they keep moving the finish line. Sometimes it feels like life just isn’t being fair.

STOP! Take a breath. The world isn’t going faster and faster, we are. The faster we go, the faster life seems to move. We are creating our own unfinishable race. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it over and over again, energy creates. We create our own reality.

What does that mean exactly? Well for us it means if we are living an unhappy existance or we are living in what feels like a fast paced world then WE created it. Conversly that means that we can uncreate it and recreate a more comfortable reality.

This is a challenging task. For some it is as simple as making a few small changes. Maybe you are only unhappy with a few small aspects of your life. In that case, you simply need to focus your energy on those aspects and how you would like them to be. Don’t expect changes to come over night, it takes time. Also don’t expect change to be comfortable because often times it is very uncomfortable to make real changes. It might seem easier just to let things remain the way they are. After all, you are already familiar with your routine. You have done it for so long in one way that it might feel odd while you are trying to make changes and change might not come fast enough that you notice a real difference for a while. It’s easy to just give up and return to what you know, but are you happy with what you know or are you just familiar with it?

Sometimes, when things are severely out of control in our lives, our bodies shut down andbecome ill. This is a signal that we need to slow down and re-evaluate the status quo. Are we doing to much? Are we trying to hard? Are we simply not living within our own personal balance? And if we are not, what will it take to find that balance within our lives in order to keep our bodies healthy and make our lives happier?

Scott Cunningham, a respected author and witch from more than 20 years, came up with a list of important principles for witches. He details the 13 goals of a witch in this list. I believe, that beyond the importance of each principle upon it’s surface, that together these principles can help us to find and maintain balance within and throughout our lives. Within each of the “goals” there is much to be learned and discovered. We can use these principles to help us, guide us and keep us along a balanced path and life.

13 Goals of a Witch
Know yourself
Know your craft
Learn
Apply Knowledge with Wisdom
Achieve Balance in your life
Keep Your Words in Good Order
Keep Your Thoughts in Good Order
Celebrate Life
Attune With the Cycles of the Earth
Breathe and Eat Correctly
Exercise the Body
Meditate
Honor the Goddess and the God, by respecting all nature

Many times we will read through a list or read through information. We soak it in, add it to our knowledge base, and keep searching for more answers. I say slow down. Think about what you are reading or learning and what it truly means. Find the deeper meanings that are there for you personally. It is perfectly fine to sponge up all the knowledge you can get your hands on when you are hungry for it, but remember to go back and slow down. Slowing down means allowing time for information to have a greater impact on you. It means thinking about each step of a process fully before moving on to the next. Experience what you are learning fully and let it make a difference in you life.

Things to think about:

1. Do you feel like life is speeding by you?

2. What areas of your life are going too fast to keep up with? What might you have done to create this speed within your life? What can you do to begin to slow it down?

Things to do:

1.  Look at the list of the 13 goals of a witch and really think about them. Some of these goals are things to be achieved but for the most part these are goals that are meant to be worked on and reassessed throughout our lives. What goals do you think you already make a conscious effort to work on and what goals do you often ignore and need to strive harder to work on? Make a list of the goals that you already work at daily or weekly. Now make another list of the goals that you often do not work at. Which do you see as already an integral part of who you are and which ones do you need to integrate more into your being.

2. Before moving forward into the goals think about them. What do each of these goals mean to you? What do you think each one means? Why do you think they are important or not important?