“Slow down,” and “Pay attention” are two widely used phrases in my ADHD family.
Though not ADHD myself, I have found these two skills/concepts to be most useful. It seems ironic since I already move slow due to my blindness from Retinitis Pigmentosa. However, I need to implement them when problem solving to prevent emotions causing me to make rash decisions.
Paying attention is easy when interested, but not when facing problems and under emotional duress. That is when we need to slow down, in order to pay attention. I am so thankful I discovered these two skills to apply in my own life.
Without using them, we can miss out on more than we realize. This came to my attention not too long ago. A couple of situations I faced made me want to give up or take a different course of action. Implementing the skill of slowing down and paying attention, I overcame my circumstances, and didn’t miss out.
The first dealt with playing my flute. Every week I choose to worship God by playing my flute in church instead of singing. My ability had been fading over the past few years. At times I thought my flute had a loose spring, or bad pads, for there were two notes difficult to play. Trying different exercises, those notes played part of the time, but not all, leading me to the conclusion I was getting too old to play.
Preparing my heart to surrender this activity, our song leader changed to playing in some different keys. In doing so, I decided to slow down and pay close attention to my lip formation when playing low, high, and middle-range notes. I concluded my muscles had atrophied from playing in keys requiring only lower notes, which relaxed my muscles.
To test my new theory, I warmed up longer, practiced more, and was rewarded with positive results. I didn’t have to quit praising my Lord with my instrument. It grieves me when I stop to think I would have, if not for slowing down and paying attention.
The other emerging problem dealt with my right shoulder. Excruciating pain halted movement from certain directions. I responded by stretching my arm various ways. Only slight improvement made me fear physical therapy might be my only option.
Not wanting to give in so easily, as I value my time, I chose to get exercise bands to provide some resistance to strengthen my shoulder. Fear continued to lurk in the background, believing I might still have to go to physical therapy.
My shoulder always ached more after sleeping, but didn’t make a connection until after ordering a new pillow. Morning pain reduced greatly.
As with the flute, my arm and shoulder muscles have already atrophied. Exercises must be performed, but thanks to slowing down and paying attention, my sleep won’t be counteracting my efforts. Best of all, I won’t have to go to physical therapy.
What kind of problems are in your life? Could you be missing out by giving up too soon and not applying these two skills of slowing down and paying attention?
It is when we slow down that we can cry out to the Lord in pray. It is these same times we can hear His voice. Many times, when praying during the slowing down process, God gives me ideas to pay attention to. These ideas often turn into solutions.
Don’t miss out on the pleasures and blessings God has in store for you. Start applying these skills today. If you would like assistance, contact me through the contact form above and I’d be glad to set up a free consultation with you to come up with some suggested solutions.
© 2021, Jena Fellers. All rights reserved.
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