Have you ever noticed how a traffic jam can turn minutes into what feels like hours of frustration? Our latest conversation might just be the key to transforming those moments into an unexpected gift of peace. We unravel the alchemy of slowing down in a society addicted to speed, where the demand for instant gratification leaves us breathless and anxious. Remember the meticulous craftsmanship that went into dresses and jumpers of yesteryear? We do, and we're sharing how embracing that unhurried approach in today's fast-paced world can paradoxically lead to greater productivity and a serene state of mind.
Let's talk about letting go—not just of the steering wheel in a standstill on the highway, but of the clutter in our minds that weighs us down. This episode is an invitation to reflect on what needs to be released and what deserves to be held close to the heart. We'll provide you with vivid, easy-to-apply mental imagery to sever the strings of persistent worries, making room for the joy and appreciation of the present. It's a heartfelt thank you for coming along with us on this journey, and a promise that, together, we can find balance and calm in the beautiful, often chaotic dance of life.
Have you ever noticed how a traffic jam can turn minutes into what feels like hours of frustration? Our latest conversation might just be the key to transforming those moments into an unexpected gift of peace. We unravel the alchemy of slowing down in a society addicted to speed, where the demand for instant gratification leaves us breathless and anxious. Remember the meticulous craftsmanship that went into dresses and jumpers of yesteryear? We do, and we're sharing how embracing that unhurried approach in today's fast-paced world can paradoxically lead to greater productivity and a serene state of mind.
Let's talk about letting go—not just of the steering wheel in a standstill on the highway, but of the clutter in our minds that weighs us down. This episode is an invitation to reflect on what needs to be released and what deserves to be held close to the heart. We'll provide you with vivid, easy-to-apply mental imagery to sever the strings of persistent worries, making room for the joy and appreciation of the present. It's a heartfelt thank you for coming along with us on this journey, and a promise that, together, we can find balance and calm in the beautiful, often chaotic dance of life.
Sometimes in life you just have to slow down, don't you? Yeah, and maybe it's exactly when you don't want to slow down because you're feeling anxious. I think you put it on the nail. Yeah, it's when you don't want to slow down or you feel as if you can't, when you think, no, I can't slow down because you're like racing along. That's when you have all this anxiety within you. Yeah, that's when you actually need to slow down the most. So that's what we're going to be talking about in Get Real with the English Sisters, today's episode of our podcast. Please do come and see us on YouTube, too, and remember to subscribe and leave a comment. On Spotify, you can actually leave comments, which is really nice, yeah, as our podcast is growing, and we really get excited when we see the numbers grow, when we see your lovely comments too.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, right, let's get cracking. So, yeah, or let's get not cracking, let's get slowing, slowing, let's make it into a slow down, slow down, slow, cut it out. Yeah, you want to slow down. Man, it's like when you have anxiety. You have to take a deep breath and then you focus on three things in the room. Don't you focus on your feet on the ground, how your breath is. Slow it down, take a deep breath, yeah, what it feels like to be sitting in whatever chair, if you're sitting, or what your clothes feel like against your body. And what these things do is that they bring you immediately back into the moment, into the present moment, instead of erasing mind, exactly Because your mind can be going like 100 kilometers or miles an hour and your body is just actually standing still. You're not even running, yeah, but you feel as if you're running. You feel as if you're on a roller coaster, yeah, with anxiety.
Speaker 1:
Anxiety can be like that, you know, especially with recurring thoughts. The recurring thoughts are the worst. They are the worst, yeah, and I mean, I know from experience they're horrible. I know from our clients what they tell us they can't sleep at night many times because the thought just keeps on popping in. I mean, how do you get rid of these recurring thoughts? Well, you have to cut them in half.
Speaker 1:
You have to imagine you have a pair of scissors and you just cut them in half. You cut the thread as if they're coming in on a thread, on a tape or a piece of string, and you just cut it. You cut it and set it free. Yeah, you say thank you to your brain. Yeah, you say thank you, you've reminded me or I know I need to get that done or I'm processing this, but now, once you've accepted it, it's time for rest. It's time for rest, yeah, and you cut it free. And you can also do that by taking a few deep breaths and thinking of your favorite color, something along those lines. Yes, yes, mm. Yeah, color does help me to a certain point, but you know I do.
Speaker 1:
I do like to imagine, like the cutting and things like that. Yeah, so practical things. So, yeah, practical things. So nice.
Speaker 1:
If you had a tool, yeah, exactly, yeah, and you can imagine, like, if you can imagine it also, like if they're all in a balloon, your thoughts, and then you're holding the balloon and then you just let the balloon go and it floats away. Oh, the relief. Yes, you know, you feel so much lighter when these things are let go of, and it's you know, they're things that you worry about. That's why what a recurring thought is. Basically it's worry and worry and worry. And you know what they say about worry 80% of it never actually happens, so it's not even productive. About the things you worry about. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, it's only productive like well, hardly ever. But I mean, unless it's productive, it is. No, it's said. Productive is to warn. You say, to go to the doctor or to go get something done, or to, you know, pay your bills. Study for your exams. Yes, study for your exams If it actually makes you do an action.
Speaker 1:
Yes, because it's the action that is going to solve. So you need a thought, and a thought that takes you to an action. But a lot of the time, worry doesn't actually take you to an action. It just keeps you down that rabbit hole of, of, of, of anxiety, and it leads even to depression afterwards. Well, yeah, it's not a good thing. No, you don't want to go all the way down there. No, you want to be. You want to lighten up, lighten your load up, and definitely, yes, thank you be able to let the balloon float up and feel so much lighter, like the weight is literally lifted off your shoulders. Yeah, and when you slow down, when you slow down a racing mind, that's when all the good things start to happen. Yes, because it doesn't necessarily mean that you can't, you know, be productive. No, and you can't work fast.
Speaker 1:
It's like, you know, the firefighters, when they put on their armour, they say fast but smooth. Yes, well, at least that's what I watched in a TV programme. I have no idea if you're a real firefighter out there. That's what we say, that's not true. It's not true. I watched this episode of this firefighters thing and I thought that's quite a good motto. So she was basically teaching the trainees to go really like fast, to be quick, because obviously it's a firefighter programme and you know she was teaching them to quickly put on the fire camp Well, whatever, yeah, and at the same time to do it really smoothly. So I thought, yeah, fast doesn't necessarily mean frenetic, it doesn't necessarily mean it has to be done in an anxious. It can be done fast but smooth.
Speaker 1:
Like you see sometimes in those massive cooking programmes, you know when each one is doing their thing, like in the top restaurants or something. You know. You see they've got a line going and it's going. Obviously, unless it's in the Hell's Kitchen or something, it's all going really. They're all swearing at each other. Well, that's why it's called Hell. But in an organised kitchen it has to be like that because otherwise nothing would get done Exactly. So it's fast, but it's all smooth, you know. So you're smooth, it goes.
Speaker 1:
You're calm while you're doing this, because I think if you're a chef and you're in that meditative state of just getting things done, you're almost like in meditation. You're like in a heightened state of focus, attention. You are definitely in a heightened state, so you're just focused on doing that and that's your job and you're just doing it calmly and slowly, exactly, yeah, definitely, even though you're getting it all done on time. Yeah, because you would think, gosh, that must be. But do you notice, when you do things really rushed over, the onions fall on the floor. Oh, it's terrible. You break a glass. Oh, my gosh, when I do things, when I'm feeling anxious, they never turn out right. I might as well not bother because it's not going to work.
Speaker 1:
You burn the oil, you burn everything. You try and make something, you say because your mind wasn't in the right place when you started it. And yet when you're in the right place, you can go really fast, really focused. Yeah, you chop those onions like this. Everything is done like effortlessly, effortlessly, effortlessly, and you know it all goes smooth, but fast at the same time. So it's not what one would think that you have to be some kind of a car monk, you know, go through life. No, you can have this kind of state of mind where you do. You know, if you're feeling anxious, you can let go. You know, put them in the balloon, like what you said.
Speaker 1:
There are small techniques that can help you. Yes, just ground yourself for a minute and take a deep breath. Yeah, exactly, that really really does help, you know, taking one and even just taking a timeout. So if you're in a difficult position and you suddenly start getting really anxious, say, if you're talking to your boss or something, yeah, I need a moment. And go to the toilet with the ladies or gentlemen, yeah, absolutely, and have a little break. Yeah, nothing was ever wiser than doing something like that. Yeah, and then coming back with a calm, collected mind to talk.
Speaker 1:
Because when you're over anxious, you either might break down and you may not want to show that vulnerability to your boss, or, on the other hand, you might start shouting and getting really irritated, yeah, so you either break down, or you break up, which is not good, or you break out, you know, towards the other person, and that's not good either. So, either through vulnerability and, you know, getting very emotional, perhaps crying, or, you know, or maybe, like what you said, shouting and becoming aggressive. None of them are the right kind of state you want to be in. You want to go smoothly, you want it to be you know. So you collect yourself a moment, like what you said by distancing yourself, is a good idea. And that particular example, definitely, definitely. And so what else can we say about this smooth and fast?
Speaker 1:
The essence is, I think, it's a snail story in the end, isn't it? Yeah, the tortoise, the tortoise story. The tortoise, the tortoise, the tortoise and the hare. Yeah, why did you say snow? I think in another country it's called snow in there, yeah, yeah, or what? Well, yeah, it's obviously a very fable. It's a fable, yes, it's a fable.
Speaker 1:
With tortoise in their head, yeah, yeah, and in the end the tortoise arrives first and they can't. They're not supposed to be fast walkers, even though we've seen they do walk quite fast. They are pretty quick. I mean, there's a difference between tortoise and turtles. You have turtles in your garden and they're pretty fast, and mine turtles. Yeah, the water turtles, yeah, they're not tortoise. Well, I love them. If they're water tortoise, they're pretty fast, they're pretty speedy. They get out of that pond fast enough, don't they?
Speaker 1:
Anyway, yeah, that is the old age thing about going slowly sometimes helps, but they used to get a bit on my nerves when I was. You always did, don't you? Yeah, because and the friend understood it and I do like to go quite quickly, I used to walk fast. Yeah, I'm a person that does like to do things pretty quickly. Yeah, but you do need to slow down. I do, I do. Yeah, I do have to. No, you're right, I do need to learn to slow down and when I do slow down, I'm more efficient. Exactly. So maybe sometimes, when things that hurt you a bit or get on your nerves a bit, it's because there's a lesson to be learned from it. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, because it touches a nerve, definitely, yeah, and you think why don't I like doing that? Because there's something you need to learn from that? Maybe, yeah, exactly, yeah, so you mean I like doing things fast Because you like to do things very quickly? Yeah, I mean I do. You're pretty quick as well I'm now, but as I've got older, but before I used to take my time a lot Well, it depends if it was like creating your perfect dress that you wanted for the next day, and you would do that really quickly.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so I don't know Depends. Yeah, but I was patient, you were patient, I would be very patient. You'd have to go and buy the fabric. Oh, yes, you order it all online. It was all step by step, step by step. You're right. Yeah, it would all take ages.
Speaker 1:
If you wanted to make a jumper, you'd have to. Sometimes you'd have to order the wool. They didn't have it. You'd have to go to the lots of department but not order it online. You'd have to go to this old little store, just order it online. Now You'd have to go to a little store, try and find the store. When we were in London, when I was in London, even then they had all the big department stores but you had to go to each of them to try and find what you needed and buy it all. Sometimes it wasn't in stock yet to wait. So you're trying to say that perhaps today's modern world is a little bit. You know both the fastness of it.
Speaker 1:
We used to think that in those days you just said, I made the dress and the jumper, and overnight. Yeah, sometimes it was true, but to get the fabric and everything, there was patience, there was a lot of patience. Yeah, sometimes I would just take an old rag, an old curtain and make something. Yeah, when I wasn't patient I would look at it to see what mom had. If she had some old curtains, I would say can I use these? Yeah, I remember that. I remember you made a dress once, but yeah, but if I did have one, I used to have more patience.
Speaker 1:
But we had the perfect example today at the hairdressers this morning when the computer broke down, oh yeah. And then we started getting so edgy and nervous and I said it's only been like it wasn't even 10 seconds, I don't think 20 seconds. I'm sorry it's computer's not working. I'm so sorry this has happened. And they started getting quite upset about the whole thing and I said this is because in today's world we're so used to having everything so so quickly, so quickly, absolutely.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I wonder if that doesn't sort of it's like not natural for us either. I don't think it is natural. I mean not that I would want it any other way, because I'm the same as everyone else. It's no, we're used to it. We're used to it. But we have to just take a step back and say, hey, it's okay, just take a breath, take the opportunity to smile at the person in front of you, have a little chat. Yeah, yeah, it's just, it's just. I do think that that is why anxiety has increased so much as well, because our fast-paced society, that everything is so fast and so quick, yeah, we can't get away from that, but we can learn how to manage it. We can learn how to manage it and how to slow down, how to think it's okay Ourselves, in our own mind, and also think, if something isn't working or not going right, just take the opportunity to take a breath.
Speaker 1:
If something stops working for a minute, yeah. Or if you're stuck in traffic, yeah, take a breath. Look at a different road that you might not have seen, a different building. Absolutely, it's all about that. In the end, it's about slowing down, to have more time.
Speaker 1:
Because if you are, say, if you're stuck in traffic for 15 or 20 minutes and then you get all worked up about it, yeah, and you get to the office or wherever you're going and you're all worked up, you're not going to be very productive. No, you've literally wasted that time, whereas if you're stuck in traffic and you think I just go over my PowerPoint or I just go over what I need to do. When I get in, you're all calm. When you get in, well, you're more productive, you're just doing it much more efficiently and calmly and you're not even stressed out. No, that is so true.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, letting go, letting go, letting go, definitely. Let us know what you're going to let go of this week, yeah, and in the weeks to come, and what you're going to keep and what you hope you keep listening to this podcast. She says, with a suspicious look in her eyes, because we're not ready to let go of you. No, we're definitely not. We love you so much and thank you so much for listening. So goodbye for today, love and smiles from the English sisters, bye, bye.