Slow Living - Doing It Old Style!

Wednesday2000

I still have a bit of a cough, but I'm still looking forward to my trip to Brighton today. I just have to hang up the laundry and put my makeup on and we are going to get the train. We have a vegan restaurant booked for tonight and I'm meeting someone I haven't seen in years for lunch on Wednesday and we are also seeing Bryan Adams in concert. Brighton is so good for vegans. I am tempted to move there one day.

I want to feel like I am still having relaxing slow days while I'm there and I am doing a 21 day meditation thing on Whatsapp at the moment. I finally caught up and did day 8 this morning. It is a Deepak Chopra meditation and I want to carry it on and do it at the hotel in the mornings. I am also taking my gratitude journal to fill out while I'm there.

leftatthetrafficlights

@Wednesday2000 - I hope you had a lovely time in Brighton! 😁 

It's been a crazy week or so for a variety of reasons and I've been completely thrown off my game!! 🙄🤦‍♀️ My diet has been horrendous, I've got nothing done in the house, my daily practices have been non-existent and I've felt completely adrift!! 😳

It's made me realise how easy it is for me to be thrown off course and how important it is for me to make sure that I stick to my daily routines regardless of what's going. It's been very apparent that once I start to lose my grip, I quickly spiral into chaos and that triggers a reaction of inertia which, in turn, compounds my feelings of helplessness and lack of control. It's taken many moons to realise this but now that I have, I shall not repeat the mistake!! 🤦‍♀️😂 

Today I am getting my act together - I'm cleaning my house, catching up with laundry, cooking some dinner, doing my yogic practices and writing. I know I will feel a whole lot better by the end of the day! 😁 

Have a fab slow day! 😁🐌

Brie

talk about horrendous diets!!  We're currently in Dresden and the Christmas markets are full of temptations.  Meaty ones, vegan ones, chocolatey or boozy!!  I don't like gluhwein but the only alternative is beer which is not what I like really at lunch time!!  The chocolate cafes are wicked!  78% dark chocolate melted and mixed with a bit of milk to drink!!  Gives me palpitations!!  And oh yes I do want a slice of apfelkuche with that please!!!

But I'm drinking less than normal actually.  And having much better (albeit bigger) breakfasts due to the range of birchler muesli and yoghurt and fruit.  OH picked a nice roll to have with his eggs which turned out to be a cranberry and nut one - passed to me and it was grand.  

And lots of steps wandering around the markets too.....

Wednesday2000

Brighton was nice, although it rained for two of the days. The hotel was in North street so very central to everything and Bryan Adams was very good live.

I'm having a slow day today as it is horrible and rainy here, but I'm meeting a new friend tonight to see a film. I want to finish my book today before I go out.

leftatthetrafficlights

@Brie - sounds like you're having fun!! 😁🥳🙌 

@Wednesday2000 - I'm glad you enjoyed your time in Brighton 😁 I hope the film was good and you had fun! 

I've had a few days of budget reorganisation and spreadsheet making - with the interest rates dropping again, it makes sense to have my 'pots' all in the highest rate account and to track them with a spreadsheet again. It's more work for me but it also means that I'll be keeping a tighter eye on things so that will be a bonus 😉 

I'm going to make much more of a financial effort in 2026 - I've done pretty well in the last few months so I want to build on that momentum and give it much more focus. 

I hope everyone had a lovely solstice - mine was very quiet and I enjoyed it immensely 😁 I have had a lot of time to think and relax, appreciate the stars (I've spent a lot of time outside 😍), empty my head and just switch off which has been fantastic 😁 The next couple of weeks will be busy so I'm making the most of it!! 

Have a fab slow day! 😁🐌

leftatthetrafficlights

Happy New Year!! 🥂🥳

Finally back home now after seeing family and despite having a genuinely lovely time away, there really is no place like home!! 😍😁 

Today I need to go out and get some shopping done as I have no fresh fruit and I have been pretty much salad free all the time I've been away 😳

Being with older relatives over the past week or so has really brought home to me the importance of building and maintaining a good level of health and fitness - I have decided that I must make more of an effort in 2026 to reach a level I'm happy with and to do something every day towards achieving that.

I want to concentrate on improving my flexibility, strength, stamina and my overall health this year. I'm going to achieve it by being more consistent with my asana practice, walking more, doing more in the garden and generally building more natural movement into my days. I have a few bits of exercise equipment in my yoga room (dumbells, kettle bells, a mini-trampoline and some straps) so I might use those from time to time too 🤔 

2026 is also going to include some work on the house - we're having our windows replaced, need some plastering doing and the whole house needs to be redecorated 😳 I've sorted out who is doing the windows so I need to get quotes for everything else. I could do the decorating myself but it's a job that I dislike immensely so I'm going to get people in unless it's ridiculously expensive 😉 

Garden wise, this is going to be my busiest year - dh does most of the garden stuff but I've decided that I'm going to take over the majority of it in 2026 as I want to build it into my mindfulness practices. I'm ordering a load of bark and mushroom compost next week so that we can sort the paths and veg beds first. 

I bought loads of books by Thích Nhất Hạnh before the holidays so I'm going to start reading those in the next day or so - although I've done daily meditation for a while now, I'm going to make a conscious effort to make mindfulness more of a way of life; I've loved it when I've done mindful cleaning, walking etc so I'm looking forward to it becoming second nature to me 🤞😁 

Anyway, time to get a chamomile tea ...

Have a fab slow year!! 🐌😁

leftatthetrafficlights

It's been a beautiful snowy day here - I have spent the day reading one of my new books, watching the flames of our open fire and looking at the snow falling 😍 not conducive to increasing my activity but fabulous nonetheless! 🥰 

Dinner last night was fab - it was so nice to have 'real' food again, it's always a genuine pleasure and even more so when I've had a run on UPF's 😉 We had butternut squash slices with dark speckled lentils; beetroot and apple salad; rocket, blueberries, strawberries, black grapes and pomegranate salad with balsamic; mixed grains (rye berries, barley groats, oat groats and short grain brown rice) with coriander, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds and barberries; and avocado. 





Tomorrow I'm going to do some mindful cleaning and then have a 'spa' day ready for life to return to 'normal' on Monday when dh goes back to work - it's been such a lovely break these last 10 days that I admit I will be a little sad when Monday comes. I've got lots to focus my attention on though and it will be nice to have some alone time - it's been years since I've peopled for such a prolonged period! 😳😂 

Have a fab slow evening! 🐌😁

leftatthetrafficlights

I've decided that as I'm concentrating on slightly different aspects of life in 2026, I decided to start a new thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6649130/2026-mindful-living-and-connection#latest

Thanks for being on the slow journey!! 😁🐌