Intentionally Slow

Today I am moving slowly intentionally.
I'm not being lazy and I'm not lacking for tasks to be completed, I just decided today will be a slow day.
Yesterday was a whirlwind, the day before as well.  In fact, life is more whirlwind than not, so that is why I feel the need to put on the brakes and slow down today.  How can I focus on the goodness of life when I can't even see it?
For me, slowing down means that I slept in a little.  I didn't hit the ground running, crossing tasks off my to-do list as soon as I woke up.  Instead, I left the computer turned off.  I grabbed a cup of coffee and read a book rather than my Bible study.  I ate breakfast instead of grabbing a granola bar.  I wrote thank you cards for birthday gifts.  I walked Claire to school and back and then trimmed the rose bushes at an abandoned house on my street.
I am ecstatic to say that even though I'm not full of frantic energy and productivity, everything is still getting done.  Claire and Paul both got to school on time and I was on time for work.
Oddly, less frantic today means more focused.  I've completed all my urgent tasks and still have two hours left in my work day.  I even sat and talked with friends for a few minutes!
About a year ago I read A.J. Jacob's book The Guinea Pig Diaries.  In it he describes several social experiments he participated in like brutal honesty, online dating, and outsourcing his life.  The book is funny and at some times appalling, but the chapter that stuck with me was "The Uni-tasker."  Jacobs sites scientific evidence that we are handicapping ourselves by trying to do too many activities at once.  As a mother and an American living in the 21st century, I can relate.
Some days I can wake up productive and some days I need to just focus on one task at a time.  So today I am a productive uni-tasker.  I am pausing to take a breath and focus on the task at hand.  I am reaching out of the whirlwind to touch base.  I am stopping to be thankful.