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14 Slow Living Quotes for Simple Living
The secret to a better life is taking the time to slow down and enjoy it.
Would you like to downshift your life? If you are, I think you will love the slow living quotes in this post.
I hand-picked these quotes because they will benefit anyone who wants to live a slower, simpler, more meaningful life.
Contents
Maybe It's Time to Slow Down
I know a lot of people who are tired of the pressure and non-stop grind of daily life. Whether it's their job or the complexity of their life in general, a lot of people want something different - something more - out of life.
That was certainly true for me.
I was in my 50s before I realized that my career was consuming my life. I felt trapped inside an endless loop of busyness. Looking into the future, all I saw was more of the same.
Over time, I rebuilt my life by changing careers, limiting my commitments, and being more intentional in virtually every aspect of my life.
Finding Simplicity and Slow Living
It was during this time that I started reading about slow and simple living. The more I read, the more I embraced the idea that simplifying and downshifting could help me transform my life. Today, I'm happier and more at peace with my life and my career.
The quotes in this post remind me why I choose to live a slow and simple life. They also inspire me to continue on this journey.
I hope they inspire you too.
14 Slow Living Quotes to Inspire You
These 14 quotes about slow living will inspire anyone looking to live a more balanced and fulfilling life.
#1- Nanette Matthews on enjoying the moment you're in
The slow philosophy begins with the idea that there's nothing more important than the present moment. It's the belief that we can create more meaning and happiness in our lives by staying true to the moment.
As I see it, being present is about making an intentional decision to give 100% of your attention to what's happening right now.
"If you're always racing to the next moment, what happens to the one you're in? Slow down and enjoy the moment you're in and live your life to the fullest." Nanette Matthews
#2 - Eckhart Tolle on the importance of the present moment
Perhaps slow living embraces the current moment because it's the only time dimension where we are physically present.
Think about it:
The past lives in memories of experiences that are behind us. The future is a distant point that has yet to have an impact on our life.
The only thing we can influence with absolute certainty is the present:
Carpe momentum, friends.
"Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life." Eckhart Tolle
#3 - Lao Tzu on being content with what you have
Spending isn't the answer to unhappiness. If it were, wealthy people would be the happiest people on earth. But they're not. Money solves some of their problems, but not all of them.
It's not spending that makes you happy; it's your mindset. I like to think that positive energy pushes out negative energy. The more you appreciate what you have, the better you feel.
The more gratitude you feel, the less room you leave for unhappiness and negativity.
"Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you." Lao Tzu
#4 - Tyler Knott Gregson on living a quiet life
Overstuffed calendars and 60-hour workweeks coat our lives with a smothering haze. The busyness saps our energy and enthusiasm.
Humans are not wired for constant motion. We need time to rest, reflect, and recharge. Slow living frees us to take the time we need to care for ourselves.
"Give me a quiet life, give me trees, the wind through them, give me a sea and the song it sings. Give me heartbeats shared with those I love, give me peace and a long deep sleep." Tyler Knott Gregson
#5 - Emily P. Freeman on exhaustion and losing our soul
We don't live our lives so much as chase after it:
We fill the emptiness in our homes and hearts with things. We scroll through images on tiny screens in search of meaningful connections. We slog through inboxes full of requests for meetings we don't need and messages we don't want.
Instead of chasing after life, slow down and enjoy it.
"The world is run by worn-out people, and our soul is often lost beneath the piles of our everyday life." Emily P. Freeman
#6 - Patti Digh on adding tasks to your stop-doing list
You know that feeling when your mile-long to-do list nags you from the back of your mind? To stop the nagging, you can either do the tasks or cut them from the list.
While you can try to do everything on the list, sometimes the best choice is to cut the number of items on the list. When you cut the unnecessary and unimportant from your to-do list, what's left on your list (and in life) becomes more manageable.
"Sometimes our stop-doing list needs to be bigger than our to-do list." Patti Digh
#7 - Sonya Matejki on slowing down and finding peace
Daily life isn't a race; it's an experience. Some experiences are large and demand lots of your time and attention. Others are small and quiet and slide into your life with little fanfare.
By their very nature, large, demanding experiences grab your attention and steal away your time. Nothing good comes from letting these experiences take over your life.
Don't ignore the small, quiet experiences as they pass through your life. They keep you grounded and balanced when life takes an unexpected turn.
"Slow down. Find peace in little moments. Learn what you love, fill your life with it, and watch yourself come alive." Sonya Matejko
#8 - Carl Honore on balance and living life at the right speed
A balanced life gives us what we need to live a fulfilling and meaningful life. Unfortunately, we don't always appreciate the importance of balance in life until it's lost.
A life out of balance can feel overwhelming, joyless, empty, or uncomfortable.
Slow living helps you find a way to balance the needs of the outside world with the needs of your inner self.
Once you find the right balance for yourself, life gets better.
"The Slow philosophy can be summed up in a single word: balance. Be fast when it makes sense to be fast, and be slow when slowness is called for. Seek to live at what musicians call the tempo giusto—the right speed." Carl Honoré
#9 - Kayleigh Drayon on pacing yourself and gaining time
This slow living quote by Kayleigh Dray sums up the idea of tempo giusto up perfectly:
The slow movement isn't about emptying your life; it's about filling it with more of what matters.
Slow living encourages you to be more intentional with your time and to spend your time in ways that improve the quality of your life, not the busyness.
"…slow living is not about living your life in slow motion; it's about doing everything at the right speed and pacing instead of rushing. By that same logic, slow living is not about losing time by going slowly; it's about gaining time by doing the things that are most important to you." Kayleigh Dray
#10 - Carlo Petrini on deciding your own life tempo
A fulfilling life begins on the inside, not the outside. It results from the values we hold and the decisions we make.
Slow living allows you to control the pace and direction of your life. It enables you to take charge of your life instead of handing that power over to other people.
"Being Slow means that you control the rhythms of your own life. You decide how fast you have to go in any given context. If today I want to go fast, I go fast; if tomorrow I want to go slow, I go slow. What we are fighting for is the right to determine our own tempos." Carlo Petrini
#11 - Natalie Walton on making intentional decisions
Slow living encourages you to make decisions intentionally and to consider your slow living philosophy during that process. And that philosophy often includes spending decisions.
"We need to build a pause into our decision making and be more considered – from goods, media, marketing and messages, to unwanted advice and opinions, which sometimes are our own." Natalie Walton
#12 - Brooke McAlary on the slow living mindset
A slow lifestyle starts with your mindset, which is crucial to living a simpler, more balanced life.
Lasting change requires a shift in what you do and how you think. Change without a genuine shift in mindset is hard to maintain over the long term.
Once you conquer your mindset, you're ready to turn from thoughts to action.
"Slow living is a curious mix of being prepared and being prepared to let go. Caring more and caring less. Saying yes and saying no. Being present and walking away. Doing the important things and forgetting those that aren't." Brooke McAlary
#13 - Plato on the importance of simplifying everyday life
The more complicated your life, the more stressful and time-consuming it is to manage. That's because complexity requires energy and attention.
When you simplify your life, you regain control of that lost energy and attention, freeing you to create the life you want.
"In order to seek one's own direction, one must simplify the mechanics of ordinary, everyday life." Plato
Final Thoughts
I'll wrap up this post with the last of today's slow-living quotes.
#14 - Erin Loechner on the importance of today
With that thought in mind, don't accept that life consists of a single default setting that applies to everyone. It doesn't. You can choose your path.
Instead of chasing happiness, chase meaning. Seek experiences over things and value quality of life over quantity of stuff.
Develop real and meaningful connections with people, not tech-based substitutes.
Don't accept that frantic is life's only speed. Many people embrace slow work, slow parenting, slow food, slow technology, and other slow mini movements.
Prioritize your well-being, even when your choices differ from those around you.
"There is only today, with holes in our pockets, with time spilling out. We cannot keep it for tomorrow." Erin Loechner
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