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Living in the Slow Lane

By Joy ⋅ May 20, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

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I’m just catching up now with my New Yorker mags. One of the articles on Talk of the Town was on a slow living organization started by a couple in Italy:

“We started as a group of friends with the same problem: difficulty in our personal life to manage our time, being always in a hurry, and being always suspended between past and future.” This philosophy—part Deepak Chopra, part Hannah Arendt—was recently proffered by Bruno Contigiani to explain the genesis of L’Arte del Vivere con Lentezza (The Art of Living Slowly), an organization that he founded two years ago, with his wife, Ella. [source]

This reminds me of the Slow Food movement and Ariel’s Night’s Unplugged. People are beginning to realize (and FEEL) the need to take things slow.

For the second Global Day of Slow Living last February 25, 2008, the Contigiani’s staged a Big Apple version and Bruno issued phony speeding tickets to fast-paced New Yorkers. They also handed out “slowmandments” printed on postcards. You can see the YouTube video of their effort here.

Here are the Slowmandments:

• Wake up five minutes earlier than usual so you have time to shave, do your make up or have breakfast without hurrying

• While queuing at the supermarket or in traffic relax, don’t get angry and try to use your time for planning your day or talking to your neighbor in line

• When you enter a café, make a habit of saying hello to the waiter before ordering and after enjoying your coffee remember to say goodbye (this rule works for all stores, offices and in the elevator!)

• Write your text messages on your cell phone with no symbols or abbreviations and get in the habit of starting with “Dear…”

• When possible, don’t do two things at the same time (for example don’t write while speaking on the phone). You run the risk of becoming impolite and imprecise

• Don’t join and don’t let your children join any teams or activities that are far from home

• Avoid being so busy and full of work that you don’t have time for yourself and the delight of thinking about nothing

• Don’t force yourself to go shopping; most probably there is enough food in your cupboard to make something tasty for dinner

• Sometimes go to the corner shop even to buy what you need, even if it’s not cheap; this will save you time and stress

• Go for a walk, alone or in company, to a local restaurant rather than driving and waiting in traffic to get to your customary eatery across town

• In the evening turn off the television and read the newspaper

• In the weekends don’t always leave town, learn to enjoy your own city, wherever it is

• If you have a two-week break from work, spend ten days on holiday and the remaining days relaxing before and after your trip

• Stop saying: “I don’t have time to…” – these words won’t make you appear more important than you are and will only cause you stress

Have you slowed down today?

Tags: Articles, slow