Slow Down!

When my girls were little, I did a mean thing. I bought a fresh box of warm, Krispy Kreme donuts and told them we could not eat any until we got home, which was about a half-hour away. Well, it wasn’t too mean, because I was just kidding. But what an exercise in self-control that would have been!

I imagine that most of us struggle to control ourselves in some area. My area is food. I want to eat healthy, but life gets busy. Consider this:

“The people I’ve known who have had major moral failings all had one thing in common: they were moving way too fast...Cramming our schedules depletes our willpower and leaves us physically exhausted. It’s the perfect recipe for a moral failure. Slowing down and resting replenishes our willpower reserves…Adopting practices that force you to slow your pace also help. Spending a mere five minutes in meditation or prayer boosts a person’s willpower for the remainder of the day. …No wonder Scripture repeatedly gives us commands such as ‘wait on the Lord’ or ‘be still and know that I am God. Our Creator knows that we need to slow down and rest. When it comes to self-control, the tortoise beats the hare every time,” from the book, “Your Future Self Will Thank You, Secrets to Self-Control from the Bible and Brain Science,” by Drew Dyck.

Recently, I was having a particularly stressful day at work. A co-worker brought in a box of donuts (yes, again with the donuts), and at first I said “no way.” I had packed a nutritious lunch and had resolved to do better. But I continued to rush around and try to get things done, things that really could have waited. I kept thinking about those donuts though. Soon I caved and scarfed down two of them. I felt instant regret. Maybe the outcome would have been different had I taken 5-10 minutes to sit down, be quiet, think about my choices, and ask the Lord for help. I knew that’s what I should do, but I didn’t do it.

So now, I am taking a different approach. I’m trying to develop the habit of slowing down during my day when I’m not over-the-top stressed. I am hoping this habit will carry me through the more stressful times.

Drew Dyck also says this, “The psychologist Jonathan Haidt uses a memorable metaphor to explain how to do this [to use habits to our advantage]. He likens habit to an elephant, ‘a strong, tireless animal’ and willpower to an elephant rider. An elephant can carry heavy loads great distances. The rider atop the large creature rarely exerts much effort. If the elephant is trained, the rider needs only to push and pull occasionally to send the creature in the desired directions. The elephant does most the work. In the same way, by using our willpower (our conscious effort) to train our habits, we can establish healthy routines that carry us through life.”

Do you think developing the habit of slowing down might help you reach your goals?

joyce hague