September 23, 2025
10 Prompts to Help You Embrace a Slower Life
There is something about the arrival of fall that makes me want to slow down and savor life a little more than usual. I want to embrace long nights and quiet days, but with how busy life can get, it sometimes feels impossible. When I feel that way, I find it helpful to turn to this list of prompts to help get into a slower mindset.
1. Think of a sound that instantly makes you pause (wind through leaves, the kettle’s whistle, your dog’s sigh). How can you invite that sound into your day more often?
2. Write about a time you were so absorbed in something gentle — folding laundry, stirring a pot, watching the sky — that you forgot the clock entirely.
3. What is one change you could make to your daily routine to make life feel calmer?
4. If you could press “pause” on one tiny moment today — a sip of tea, sunlight on the wall, the hush before sleep — which would you choose?
5. What is something you love to do by hand rather than getting help from technology or an appliance?
6. What is a smell that never fails to make you close your eyes and inhale deeply? How can you add more of this to your home?
7. Go on a long walk, and rather than listen to music or an audiobook, let your mind wander. Where does it land?
8. What is a task you tend to rush through that you could take more time and do it intentionally?
9.How would you most like to spend a day with no obligations and the only goal being to slow time down as much as possible?
10. How has embracing a slower pace changed your life for the better?
Find more soul-stirring prompts in Field Guide to Everyday Magic Issue 16.
Janette Mitchell
September 26, 2025 at 8:40 am
I love walking in to a store and smelling the bags of cinnamon scented pinecones placed directly to the side as you enter to capture your senses to purchase one, but rather for me, inhale deeply the cinnamon goodness and think of fall while I shop.
Christine Jarmuz
October 9, 2025 at 6:32 pm
This is the kind of article I can send to 3 female cousins. We had a reunion 3 yrs ago after absences with them of 2,4 and 36 yrs. This is the kind of writing that unites souls and greets the upcoming season. This is what we open our hearts to, so we can exchange memories that will last longer still.
Christine Kurman
October 10, 2025 at 7:03 am
Living in Florida it seems like there is never a slow down time specifically. No change of Seasons, no color change in the foliage to stimulate the mind, no cold to keep you inside by a warm fire, no counting down days for Holidays. It’s not the same living here by the Ocean. It’s just different. The Ocean has its own change of colors, the tide changes, the waves are all different. Stronger winds bring bigger waves and more Kite Surfers out with their colorful kites, these are my color changs I get to see! I have embraced a nature focused lifestyle to help me slow down.
Barbara
October 13, 2025 at 12:53 pm
Thank you! Love this!