By Arnie Cooper
“If everything seems under control, you just are not going fast enough.” – Mario AndrettiOriginally intended for racecar drivers, the above quote was recently used to motivate salespeople at a meeting for a medical equipment company. It also serves as a metaphor for our high-octane lifestyles.
No one wants to slow down. No doubt, in the time it takes to read this paragraph you could reheat last night’s leftovers, withdraw three hundred dollars from your checking account, or even download your favorite song. The problem is not just how fast we’re moving, but rather how unaware we are of it.
“We are caught by the dysrhythmias and dysfunctions of our time, causing us to rush through life without experiencing it,” says Stephan Rechtschaffen, a holistic physician and co-founder of the Omega Institute. Conveniences like cell phones and wi-fi only heighten the chaos that affects our work as well as our leisure time.
Thanks to social media, our attention-span has evolved into a series of mind-numbing jump cuts, where images rarely remain in our thoughts longer than five seconds. Worse yet, micro-editing lets television broadcasters remove the natural pauses of human speech, forcing more information into a given timeslot. Even the act of reading has changed. An entirely new genre known as “sudden fiction” offers time-pressed readers stories they can finish in three or four minutes.
The industrial world is poised to move even faster. Yes, that world has brought myriad advances in medicine and efficiency. But not everyone believes that racing the clock will bring salvation.
A growing number of individuals are reorienting their lives to the pleasures of slowness. For example, take yoga. More than 37 million Americans have embraced the ancient practice. Labyrinths, a form of walking meditation, are also making a comeback. Whether to reduce stress or recharge one’s psychic energy, labyrinths are showing up everywhere, from religious institutions and retreat centers to schools, corporate campuses, hospitals, and even in people’s backyards.
Of course, it makes little difference whether one quiets the monkey’s chatter by slow walking or sitting zazen, as Buddhist practitioners do. The physical and psychological benefits of focusing on the now are well documented. For example, a recent University of Wisconsin study found that participants who received meditation training demonstrated better immune function than those who didn’t.
But what happens when we leave our meditation cushions and venture out into the real world? How can we integrate slowness into our busy lives? As Rechtschaffen points out, “we can inhabit the present just as it is. This requires not esoteric spiritual practices but a simple decision to do so followed by action.” Perhaps this is why new methods to restore our equanimity are showing up in unexpected places, often with equally unexpected benefits.
Slow Investing
In the usually frantic financial world, “Slow Investing” is helping to shift the focus away from only the bottom line. Woody Tasch, CEO of Investor’s Circle, a socially responsible business network, believes we need to consider variables other than the highest and fastest rates of return when selecting a stock portfolio.
“It’s become intuitively clear to me that the twentieth century was about speeding and scaling up. The twenty-first century will almost certainly have to be about slowing down and breaking things into smaller units and going local,” he says.
He believes such principles should also be applied to the stock market and venture capital. “Those realms are geared to the unfettered fastest flow of money possible. However, there are many things we need in our towns and society that don’t conform to that model,” Tasch says. Among them are community-based businesses and locally produced organic products.
In fact, Tasch came up with the idea of slow money because of his interest in the Slow Food movement. “I was inspired by how they were uniting things that hadn’t traditionally been joined before. I realized that I’d been doing a similar thing on the financial side.” But instead of trying to change how people relate to food, Tasch has been working to get people to re-imagine what a healthy investment really means.
Slow Food
Which brings us to Carlo Petrini. He’s the Italian food writer who created the Slow Food movement and author of Slow Food (Chelsea Green Pub. Co, 2001). Perhaps nothing exemplifies the art of slowness better than this organization that is transforming our favorite activity – eating. In response to the opening of a McDonald’s in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna in 1986, Petrini created Slow Food to halt the elimination of the thousands of varieties of fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and breads caused by the industrialization of food.
With chapters in more than forty-five countries on five continents, Slow Food is helping individuals around the world become more conscious of what they’re eating. Just the simple act of slicing into a locally produced ruby red heirloom tomato can help re-awaken our taste buds and also reconnect us with our communities.
Patrick Martins is president of Slow Food USA. He believes technology has led us to forget what it means to be human, which includes sitting down at the table with family and friends. “In the past, all the political decisions were made at the table. What’s more, this would be the time of uniting, of turning the outside world away, and sharing stories with loved ones,” Martins says. Slow Food is encouraging people to return to the natural rhythms enjoyed by previous generations.
Beyond providing personal benefits, this heightened food consciousness is yielding positive outcomes for the entire planet as well. “We’re opening gardens in schools, and by celebrating small food producers, we’re helping to save the U.S. food heritage.” Martins believes that understanding where our food comes from can help reduce pollution by promoting sustainable agriculture and local consumption.
Slow Cities
The Slow Cities movement, an offshoot of Slow Food, encompasses the aforementioned objects and more. Like it’s gastronomic sister, Slow Cities is dedicated to improving our quality of life. But instead of taking a culinary approach, it focuses on the places where we live and work. Founded in 2000 by Stefano Cimicchi, the Mayor of Orvieto, Italy, Slow Cities’ mission is to transform our traffic-ridden cities into unhurried urban spaces that promote harmony with the natural landscape.
What’s more, la citta slow promises more than mere aesthetic enhancements. A greater sense of hospitality will be promoted to help increase intercultural understanding and harmony. In addition, each slow city or town will strive to preserve and foster its unique character by focusing on slow, reflective living.
According to the movement’s charter, “the development of local communities is based on their ability to create an identity of their own that is visible outside and profoundly felt inside.” This will encourage residents to adopt a civic pride and bond with one another, restoring the true nature of community. In so doing, eco-friendly practices, such as the incorporation of pollution-free transportation and the use of organic, natural products will increase.
So far, sixty-three cities around the world have committed to enhancing serenity and contemplative lifestyles for their citizens. This movement could very well be a significant step in safeguarding the planet.
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