🌿 The Art of Slowing Down

August is here—the month of Leo. We've passed Lughnasadh and, I hope at least, we're all getting ready for our summer break.

Among my friends and colleagues, summer travel plans start circulating as early as Beltane: projects that change at the last minute every year, with no one surprised anymore.

This year, though, August will be different for me: slower. And I have to admit, this slowness frightens me a bit.

In this article, I'd like to share a piece from my journal and talk about the ability to enjoy the present moment, to slow down in a world that pushes us to run faster and faster, to live more than the 24 hours available to us, to miss what's happening minute by minute.

🌬️ When Silence Speaks Loudly

For a few years now, I've struggled particularly with the idea of staying home and working remotely.

The noise and cacophony of the office get replaced by the silence of the mountains, the wind that circulates despite the 86°F heat, and the clicking of the keyboard typing away at data.

My autonomy lasts only a few days: then a mental mechanism kicks in that starts suggesting ideas to me, which become small phobias I didn't have just days before.

This is exactly what gave me the idea to write an article about the ability to stop and appreciate even those moments when we have nothing to do. Essential moments for reconnecting with the present and reopening those drawers of the mind that, if left closed too long, risk overflowing precisely when we don't have time to tidy up.

🔮 A "Magical" Routine for August

Precisely because I now know what happens, this time I've decided to use some practices (which I told you about in my previous article) that allow me to ground myself in the present and create a small "magical" routine to structure this summer vacation time.

Breakfast

For many it's a detail, for me it's a ritual.

Ever since I was a child, when I slept very little, breakfast was my favorite moment: the silence of the still-drowsy house, barefoot steps to avoid waking anyone, my mug (back then with One Direction, now saying Booklover) filled with cappuccino and Gocciole.

It's a ritual I still dedicate to myself today: without it, the day doesn't truly begin.

Cardio

This is the most tiring part, not because of the calories, but because I perceive it as a waste of time, despite knowing its benefits.

Lately I've gotten back into running: running in my neighborhood, surrounded by cottages and well-kept gardens, with my worn-out playlist pumping in my ears, is priceless.

Solution to summer heat? Wake up at first light.

Yoga

Just writing this, I feel the tension melting away.

Stretching, breathing, bringing wellness to bones, muscles and ligaments, and to the spirit that regenerates vinyasa after vinyasa.

Reading and Writing

I could contradict my first statement and say this is my true moment.

There's no way I don't have time for one of these two things: they go hand in hand.

On my two daily hours of train commute, book and pen are trusted companions. Sometimes they quarrel because one feels neglected by the other, but they both know well that I wouldn't exist without them.

Book of Shadows

The time I dedicate to Wiccan practice.

Often commitments lead me to leave it closed in its storage place, but this August will be a return to it, time dedicated with intention.

🧠 The Master of "Here and Now": Carl Gustav Jung

After this long description that perhaps won't interest anyone, I want to tell you about who really made me understand the importance of the present: Carl Gustav Jung.

For Jung, the "here and now" (hic et nunc) isn't a mindfulness slogan, but the concrete and indispensable starting point for any inner evolution.

Without grounding consciousness in personal life and in the present, human beings cannot encounter or integrate the deeper or collective dimensions of the psyche.

The Value of the Present in Analytical Psychology

• The Foundation of Reality — Without a solid personal life in the present, it's impossible to touch the impersonal or spiritual layers of the mind.

• The Individuation Process — Becoming oneself means confronting the everyday: fear, joy, loneliness, pain.

• The Danger of Escape — Taking refuge in the past or projecting into the future is an ego defense: it serves to avoid the reality of the moment.

How It's Applied

• Accepting the Concrete — Living in the present means giving up the claim to absolute control over events.

• Listening to the Symptom — Psychological distress must be addressed where it manifests: in the present of everyday life.

• Integrating Opposites — Past and future find synthesis only when the individual takes full responsibility for their inner state in the "here and now."

As you well know by now if you've read my previous articles, I'd like to propose a little game that allows us to connect and keep each other company in this hot month:

🌙 "Your Ritual of Slowing Down": what practice can you not do without even in everyday life? And which one makes you wait for summer vacation to reconnect with it?

Thanks for reading,

-V