Slow Living Is Not Enough
The secret to slowing down is not doing less, but wanting less.
These days, “slow living” is everywhere. People are curling up with books, taking long walks, swinging in hammocks, or playing classical music in the background—all in the name of slowing down. Lovely, yes. But let’s be honest: slowing your schedule is just surface-level if your mind is still racing.
The real problem isn’t pace. It’s desire.
If you’re full of endless wants and desires, you’ll always be running, no matter how slowly you try to walk. True freedom comes not from slowing your life down, but from reducing the number of desires that drive you. The fewer desires you have, the less you feel compelled to chase.
But here’s the catch: you can’t cut down desires by sheer willpower. The mind will always manufacture more. Instead, you need to educate the mind. Simplify not only your possessions, but your thoughts. How? Through knowledge. Spiritual knowledge.
A daily dose of spiritual study is the most powerful way to begin. Pick up a book that uplifts and expands your perspective. For some, it might be a classic text of philosophy or Vedanta; for others, it may be any book that points you inward and helps you see life from a different perspective.1
The Missing Piece in Slow Living
Once you’ve chosen your book, the next step is to carve out quiet time for reading and reflection. According to Vedanta philosophy, the most spiritual and powerful time of day for this is between 4–6am, known as Brahma Muhurtha. The world is still, the mind is rested, and in that silence, you can regain clarity, sanity, and peace.
Create a space in your home dedicated to this practice. Set it up with a chair, a table, a notepad with a pen for notes, and your chosen book. When you wake up, wash your face, drink some water, and maybe make a cup of tea. Then sit with your book—not just to read, but to reflect. Ask yourself: How does this relate to my life? What do I need to change?
The aim isn’t to add another ritual to your already busy day. It’s to discover the spiritual being you already are—the peaceful, happy self buried beneath layers of noise and desire.
Through reading, reflecting, and questioning, you develop a higher faculty beyond the mind called the intellect. Unlike the rambling mind, the intellect discerns, guides, and simplifies. It has the power to reduce desires, refine emotions, and bring order to thought.2
And here’s the kicker: you can’t live slow without a strong intellect to reduce your desires. Because slow living isn’t about hammocks, tea ceremonies, or quiet playlists. Those are external aids. Real slowness happens when the mind itself stops running in circles. That happens only when desires are reduced, and it is the intellect—trained daily through study and reflection—that makes this possible. Not the mind.
Slow living on the outside is a lifestyle. Slow living on the inside is liberation.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Also, don’t forget to tune in each day for bursts of inspiration, like this:
Everyone has their own nature, just as New York, London, and Sydney have their own climate. But within that climate, the weather shifts. One day may be bright and sunny, another gloomy and stormy. The key is to distinguish between a person’s weather (emotions) from their climate (nature). Weather changes. Climate prevails.
You don’t have to have the app, you can simply go straight to The Elder Sage.
Till next time,
Be Well,
Meredith — The Elder Sage
The two eternal books I turn to for spiritual guidance are the Vedanta Treatise and the Bhagavad Gita.
I like how you’re calling out what social media has made of “slow living.” Same as you, I don’t believe it’s a lifestyle. Buying a flip phone or walking with flowers won’t actually slow down your life, it’s more like putting a bandage over the root of the problem. I also love how you reframe it as liberation. That’s very powerful.
Personally, though, I don’t feel it’s about having fewer desires. That idea comes from ancient spiritual teachings, but I find it outdated. (I was a Buddhist myself for 12 years, and I realized that wasn’t the point, it actually created a lot of conflict with my humanity. And I see that happening often these days.)
Either people become “too spiritual,” trying to detach from the world and ending up ungrounded, or they think that reading books, going to the park, and performing a “slow lifestyle” is the full answer.
I don’t think it’s either/or. I believe we need to learn to have desires without shame and honor them, without letting them control us. It’s not about less desire, but about being in control of your need to fulfill them in the way you want, when you want, constantly chasing it and losing yourself in it.
I really respect your perspective, and I think we share similar points. I love that you’ve brought this to the table, this is how meaningful conversations start. Just wanted to share my take on it. ✨
Beautiful reflections … to be free is to know the one who is free from all desires…slowing down and reflecting prepares the mind to be open to knowledge.