So, I was trying to find a great way to define mindfulness and how it can apply to daily life.

Then I saw this video about baby sloths (warning, extreme cuteness alert). And I fell in love.


Naturally, I had to look further into sloths after seeing this video and I found this page What is a sloth?

I'll admit that before reading this information that I didn't know anything about sloths. Most people I've talked to just think sloths are slow because they're lazy. However, the reason that they move slow is because of their diet. They eat mostly toxic leaves that can take up to a month to digest; if they tried to digest them any faster than that they would poison themselves. Who knew???!!!!

The sloth spends about 70% of its time resting because they have to digest their food. Otherwise, it could kill them.

I would say that the sloth is one of the most mindful creatives I've ever known. It's knows itself and its biological limits. Can we honestly say the same for ourselves as human beings?

Mindfulness is defined as "a state of active, open attention on the present. When you're mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience" (taken from Psychology Today).

The sloth appears to be lazy and slow to those of us who don't know better. They know what's going on in themselves and they don't feel any pressure to move faster than they're going. They know what they're doing; they're mindful of themselves :).

What pressures are you feeling in your life? How can you handle those who think you should be going faster or harder than you are? Do you know what your limits are? Are there times where you just can't give more effort than you already are? Do you ever take the time to just slow down? Are you awakening to these experiences?

If you don't, maybe you should practice some mindfulness in true sloth fashion :).

Resources for Sloths

Slothville - Headquarters of the Sloth Appreciation Society

The Little Book of Sloth by Lucy Cooke