“Be a curator of your life. Slowly cut things out until you’re left only with what you love, with what’s necessary, with what makes you happy.”
LEO BABAUTA Creator of Zen Habits
As we head into the heart of summer, it is easy to become obsessed with squeezing as many activities as possible into the gloriously long days of sunlight.
However, there is a fascinating movement that we have just begun to appreciate. This newly revived “philosophy” is simply referred to as Slow Living. At first, we thought why do we want to “slow down” as our bodies and minds are doing that for us already. But this movement doesn’t mean you cannot be active in work and play. It doesn’t mean that you sit in a rocking chair and muse.
Unlike our mothers, those of us of a certain age grew up at a time when Eastern medicine and spiritual attitudes crept into the main stream. Think the Beatles and spiritual meditation and yoga and self-directed psychotherapy.
Slow Living is a mindset whereby you curate a more meaningful and conscious lifestyle that’s in line with what you value most in life. It means doing everything at the right speed.
“Instead of striving to do things faster, the slow movement focuses on doing things better. Often, that means slowing down, doing less, and prioritizing spending the right amount of time on the things that matter most to you.”
Imagine not rushing to activity A or B or C or rushing to a meeting or squeezing five things in a day. The worst part of high-speed living is that we are distracted and not focused on the moment. I find myself slamming my hand into the door jam and forgetting where I left my phone and going up and down stair six times looking for things. This is not a memory issue but, rather, I realize it is simply that I am moving too fast. How many of us make lists and recheck lists of all the projects we “need to do”?
Imagine slowing down. Imagine appreciating the light dappling through the trees outside the window. Imagine smelling the peonies. Imagine really looking into the eyes of your dog and petting her gently and slowly.(in my case, four dogs)
Slow Living evolved from the Slow Food movement that originated in Italy in the 1980s where a group of activists defended regional food against homogenization from chains like McDonald’s. It has since spread to Slow Fashion, Slow Travel, Slow Gardening, and Slow Design.
Benefits include more time for self-care, more time for those we care about, less stress, more connection to nature, more mindfulness to be altruistic for the greater good.
https://www.slowlivingldn.com
We are asking if the pace of your life make sense? Just writing about this makes my racing heart slow. Maybe it is time to prioritize and do more by doing less.
Just saying….
Ciao
Lucy and Claudia