Make 2010 Your Year for Slowing Down!

THIS IS A SLOW BLOG. It is updated when I have something to say, rather than trying to say something just to update the blog. Learn more about Slow Blogging here. Since this is a Slow Blog, may I suggest you subscribe by RSS by clicking here, or subscribe to receive email updates by clicking here (to learn more about RSS click here for an FAQ).

(Please excuse the brazen “plug” nature of this blog post)

In the spirit of New Years Resolutions, make 2010 your year for slowing down…

If you are serious about slowing down this year and want make certain your succeed, one of the easiest, and most powerful ways is a series of one-to-one coaching sessions.

I will work with you to develop an individual plan for you to start slowing down. A full assessment will be taken of your current situation and then we will work together to help you develop a plan for slowing down.

Throughout the process I will give you all the support and help you need to succeed in your wish to slow down.

To give you idea of the sort of thing that coaching can do, have a look at the process I did for Cosmopolitan Magazine in October 2009. To read the article, go to www.cosmpolitan.co.uk or CLICK HERE.

As a New Year offer, you can book 3 sessions for the price of 2!

Sessions can be carried out over the phone or via skype (which is totall free to install and use and much cheaper than a phone call!), or face to face if you are located in Birmingham or Cardiff, UK. I have worked with people all over the world and sessions can be booked at a time to suite you.

For more information, please go to my coaching page here, or click here to contact me to book a session.

(Here endeth the plug).

Matt

PS, I jumped the gun a bit last week announcing the “Welcome to the Slow Life” eCourse, I have had a few technical hiccups that has slowed(!) the process down, hopefully the first enrolment will start in the next few weeks. To register your interest and get a special “pre-registration” discounted price of $39.99 please click here to contact me putting “Welcome the Slow Life Pre-registration” in the comments box  and I will add you to the list and send you some free goodies!

New Years ReSLOWlutions…

THIS IS A SLOW BLOG. It is updated when I have something to say, rather than trying to say something just to update the blog. Learn more about Slow Blogging here. Since this is a Slow Blog, may I suggest you subscribe by RSS by clicking here, or subscribe to receive email updates by clicking here (to learn more about RSS click here for an FAQ).

Well hello and welcome to a new year and a new decade. You may think it is a bit late for a New Years Resolutions blog entry. But I only came back to “work” today, as yesterday was Plough Monday.

Plough Monday

References to Plough Monday date back to the late 15th century, and was the traditional start of the English agricultural (therefore, working) year.

Plough Monday is generally the first Monday after Twelfth Day (Epiphany), 6th January. So, those of you that started work before this day, shame on you! Call yourself an Idler or a follower of Slow?

The day traditionally saw the resumption of work after the Christmas period. A plough was often hauled from house to house in a procession, collecting money. This was often accompanied by musicians, an old woman or a boy dressed as an old woman, called the “Bessie”, and a man in the role of the “fool”. There would be “goose dancing” and considerable drinking and revelry.

The Plough Monday customs (like most cool old traditions) declined in the 19th century with the change to an industrialised society.

Resolutions the Slow Way

Did you managed to slow down your Christmas and eek it out until Epiphany? Or was it as hectic as ever and went the blink of an eye?

Have you made any New Years resolutions? It all seems to be a bit ridiculous really, as the start of each day is technically a start of a New Year, but I have to admit to quite liking the idea of New Year as a time to take stock, reflect and plan ahead. Really that was what the Winter Solstice was initially about and winter is the ideal time to sit back, reflect and plan.

So how do you do resolutions the Slow Way?

1. Be Honest

Do you really want to do it? Or are you just doing it because you think you should? If you really don’t want to do it, you won’t even manage the 1st step! So relax and enjoy yourself.

2. Resolving NOT to do Something?

Unfortunately, we live hectic and busy lives. So trying to add more to it will often mean that you won’t stick to it (the old “last in, first out” principle), so whilst resolving to do some new things, also make sure you resolve NOT to do some things as well. See here for more information on starting your own NOT to do list and click here to download your own, so you can get started straight away!

3. Limit Yourself

Doing too much, will mean you will overwhelm yourself and give in. So do one thing at a time for about 15 minutes a day (if that) and ease into it gently. You will find you will get more done and the changes will last longer than if you try and do it all at once!

Read more about how limiting yourself can make you more productive at Leo Babauta’s excellent blog “Zen Habits” here: www.zenhabits.net

4. Enjoy the Journey

There is nothing worse than aiming for some future goal and having a miserable time trying to achieve it.  Ask yourself “what is the most fun way I can achieve this goal?” (not the quickest). Life is a journey, not a destination…

COMING SOON! “Welcome to the Slow Life” Online eCourse.

Make 2010 your year for slowing down. In keeping with the spirit of New Year’s Resolutions, I am launching a 6-week “Welcome to the Slow Life” eCourse to inspire, guide and support you in your pursuit of a slower life.

Each week you will be emailed a module on a specific topic where you will be given practical tips you can incorporate into your everyday life and exercises and experiments to try out. I hope that at the end of the course you’ll have a new, deeper appreciation of the slow philosophy and a richer, more fulfilling life:

Module 1: Introduction

Module 2: Creating Space to be Slow

Module 3: Mindful Living and Appreciating the Present Moment

Module 4: Slow Wealth

Module 5: Slow Health

Module 6: Bringing it all together and planning your Slow Life

During the 6 weeks of your course, you will access to me via email to ask questions, get clarification or explore a topic in more detail.

You will also receive:

• “Welcome to the Slow Life” eBook and Audiobook
• “Deep Relaxation Primer” Audio Programme
• VERY SPECIAL BONUS: Welcome to the Slow Live – LIVE!!

Enrolment Fee: I am offering a very special rate of $49.99 ($39.99 for pre-registration) for the first run of the course (usual price will be $79.99).

I have to admit, I have got a little over excited and jumped the gun a bit with this announcement, the course isn’t quite ready yet and will be launching very soon.

So, to get a sneak peak and the chance to sign up at a reduced “pre-registration” course ($39.99) fee email me by filling out the contact form here and just put “Welcome to the Slow Life pre-registration” in the message box. I will add your name to the mail list and email you a cool “sneak peak” at the course.

Matt

PS, What are your plans to make 2010 a Slower Year than last year? Leave you comments below…

Bah Humbag: Slowing Down Christmas

THIS IS A SLOW BLOG. It is updated when I have something to say, rather than trying to say something just to update the blog. Learn more about Slow Blogging here. Since this is a Slow Blog, may I suggest you subscribe by RSS by clicking here, or subscribe to receive email updates by clicking here (to learn more about RSS click here for an FAQ).

Well, it is December and I have lifted my self imposed Christmas embargo. I refuse to even think about Christmas until now, no matter how much adverts and Tesco try and make me (I am sat here watching Love Actually. It is the one film that cannot fail to make me feel Christmassy!).

I don’t like Christmas. Well, that is not strictly true. I don’t like what Christmas has become. It seems to have become this secular celebration of consumerism.

All people care about is what presents to get, what presents they will receive, what food they need to buy (and, boy, do they buy! It is only 2 days, yet people seem to shop like they will never be allowed to buy food again), it is all spend, spend, spend…

Go and walk around your local high street now and you won’t see much the “season to be jolly” (or much “good will to all (wo)men” for that matter), all you will see is crowds (and crowds, and crowds…) of stressed and angry shoppers shuffling around.

It is ridiculous, and about as far removed from the original meaning of Christmas as we can get…

What is Christmas? Really?

What are the ancient roots of Christmas and the festivities that surround it?

Well, I am sure you are all aware of the song “12 Days of Christmas’”…

“Fiiiiiiiiiiivvvveeeee Gooooooolllllldddd Riiiiiinnnnggssss….” And all that.

That was because Christmas would last 12 whole days! It would start on the 25th December and finish on the 6th January (12th Night). Originally Christmas Day was celebrated on January 6th, when presents were given in honour of Saint Nicholas (the forefather of Father Christmas).

It was a time of merriment, feasting and general festivity (but still a holy day, with 3 masses on 25th December to start the ball rolling), with plays, processions and merry-making. It was not the family orientated affair we know today, but a celebration that involved the whole community.

Christmas (or Yule, or Christmastide, or the festival of Epiphany, or the Winter Solstice!) was a time of revelry, of community spirit, of celebration and feasting that lasted days (some sources say they started in November!), ending on 12th Night, or the Feast of Epiphany on the 6th January. It combined pre-Christian traditions and Christian elements to give thanks and distract ourselves from the cold, dark winters…

The Christmas We Know Today

The Christmas we know today (with the 2 days – Christmas Day and Boxing Day) was really an invention of those lovers of speed; the Victorians, to reduce the festive period into a manageable 2-day holiday so we could all get back to work as soon as possible (this was in the midst of the Industrial revolution).

However the rot set in a long time before those harebrained Victorians got their mitts on Christmas, around the time of Reformation, when Martin Luther created the Protestant Church (and the gave name to the dreaded “Protestant Work Ethic”) and started to cull the Pre-Reformation holidays and festivals as they deemed them “hedonistic” and “superstitious” (Christmas was even BANNED in Britain in 1647).

The blueprint for the modern Christmas celebrations was laid down in Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol” (thanks Charley), with the idea of the one-day of feasting and celebration (Boxing day wasn’t traditionally classed as holiday unitl 1871, when the Bank Holidays Act in the UK was designated a Bank Holiday). It is suggested that Dickens (being a popular author of the time) was unofficially employed to do a bit of PR job on the new, shorter Christmas celebrations, as the workers were somewhat reticent of giving up their festivities (and who can blame them?).

Because of the truncated nature of the celebration and the fact that people were moving into the cities and away from the traditional village community, the onus moved away from the community as whole and focused much more just on the family (remember, most families all lived under one roof back then…).

When you describe Christmas like that, and discover the modern celebrations cynical roots, can you see why I am not a huge fan?!

How Can You Slow Down Christmas?

“We’re all dreaming of a pre-Reformation Christmas, when the festival really did last twelve days and during which time work and trade were forbidden, and instead we all danced, sang, ate, drank and generally made extremely merry. The sour-faced Parliamentarians of the Cromwell state actually tried to ban Christmas altogether, considering it Popish, old-fashioned and far too much fun. Luckily Charles II brought it back in 1660 and the medieval spirit of Christmas has survived.” - Tom Hodgkinson

The fact is, we are going to celebrate Christmas aren’t we? And why shouldn’t we?! I am not against Christmas as festival, I am just not too comfortable with it as the modern celebration of consumerism and speed that it has become.

Christmas should be a little bit of a revolt against the increasing pressure and stress of work and the consumer society and, in my humble opinion, the old Pre-Reformation celebrations were a much “Slower” than our current ones.

The idea here is to introduce (or re-introduce) some of the Pre-Reformation intentions that you may find will reduce you Christmas stress and turn it back into a time for you to enjoy!

1) Celebrate the full 12 Days!

Try and plan to do something for the full 12 days, rather than rushing to get everything done in the 2 days we have allotted to us. The time between Christmas and New Year is often a bit of an empty space and we are not sure what do to with ourselves. Well by celebrating the full 12 days you can use that time to catch up with friends and family at a more leisurely pace.

There are still some organisations that shut between Christmas and New Year (and good on them!), but if not, you can still do something in that time.

2) Go carol singing (or Wassailing as it was traditionally known)

Ancient carol singing was a bit of a rowdy affair, where people would go from house to house and sing and be offered alcohol by the inhabitants. I am not suggesting you go and harass your neighbours for booze, but a spot of drinking and singing does wonders to lift the spirits!

3) Don’t bow to pressure to do things that are “expected” of you

Christmas is a time for celebration not “duty”, if you don’t enjoy it at the rest of the year, why do it now?  Spend it with people you really want to, not people you think you should.

4) Buy gifts that mean something, not that cost the earth

The giving of presents seems to have become the central tenant of the modern Christmas with people stressing and panicking about what to buy people and often going into debt to pay for it.  Don’t buy pointless gifts just because you think you should, take some time to consider what that person would really appreciate and it (or make it!) for them. Presents don’t need to be expensive to be good.

5) Don’t go shopping

The internet is a godsend for this. You can do all your Christmas shopping from the comfort of your own sofa without needing to go out and face the hordes (unless fighting your way through crowds of angry shoppers makes you feel Christmassy).

6) The thorny issue of Christmas Cards

Hand written? Electronic? Don’t bother? Every year we seem to have to send cards to more and more people; work colleagues, neighbours (who we often don’t even know the name of), distant relatives we can barely remember. It gets more and more expensive, it is strain on the poor postal service and all that paper is hardly good for the planet (even if it is recycled or from a sustainable source).  I like the idea that seems to have sprung up of recent years (at least with people I know), and that is to donate the money you would have spent on cards to charity and then just send a generic email telling everyone that is what you have done. Of course, still send cards to people who are close to you!

7) Give something to the community

Boxing day got its name from giving gifts (or Christmas “boxes” to the poor) and Christmas was traditionally a time for community. So why not give something back? You can do anything you want from giving a donation to a charity (see the suggestion about Christmas cards), to getting more involved in something, it is up to you. Giving something back honours the Christmas spirit and will make you feel surprisingly good!

This is will probably be my last post of 2009. So I wish a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (and, in fact, the new decade) and I will see you in the 2010.

Matt

PS, If you liked this post, please bookmark it on Digg, Stumbled Upon, Twitter, etc. I would really appreciate it

The ideal Christmas Present for the Harebrained person:

Your Own “NOT to Do” List

THIS IS A SLOW BLOG. It is updated when I have something to say, rather than trying to say something just to update the blog. Learn more about Slow Blogging here. Since this is a Slow Blog, may I suggest you subscribe by RSS by clicking here, or subscribe to receive email updates by clicking here (to learn more about RSS click here for an FAQ).

The slow life is the simple life is the easy life. Yet we often find we clutter up our lives with things we don’t want or need to do.

A way of releasing yourself from these habits is to do a “NOT to Do” list. I wrote about what it is and how you can do it in this post here. But, for your ease and convenience, I have created this pdf “NOT to Do” list for you!

You can download it and print it out and stick to your notice board/fridge/computer screen/wherever, for ease of reference.

Click on the thumbnail below to download it.

How To Do a ‘NOT To Do’ List?

As a reminder, here is how I suggest you do your list, but feel free to do it how you want.

1) Listing things you never intended to do in the first place can act as catalyst to get you going.

2) Then, begin with things that you feel you should do, never do and then beat yourself up about not doing.

3) List things you are doing now, but you are not sure why. You probably have lots of habits that have just developed over the years that no longer really have any reasonable function; you just do them because you have always done them. Not sure if it should be on the list? Put it on for a week and see if you miss it, if you last a week, leave it there for a month, if after a month you still haven’t needed to do or missed it, put it on forever.

4) Your “not to do” list is not a place to shirk responsibility, or list things you need to do. Don’t put ‘”pay my credit card bills” on the list for example!

5) Then of course, it frees up time and energy (and, often, money too) to do the things you actually want to do…

Matt

PS, If you liked this post, please bookmark it on Digg, Stumbled Upon, Twitter, etc. I would really appreciate it

The Overflowing Teacup

THIS IS A SLOW BLOG. It is updated when I have something to say, rather than trying to say something just to update the blog. Learn more about Slow Blogging here. Since this is a Slow Blog, may I suggest you subscribe by RSS by clicking here, or subscribe to receive email updates by clicking here (to learn more about RSS click here for an FAQ).

“Once, a university professor went to visit a Zen master. While the master quietly served tea, the professor talked continuously about Zen, his thoughts, his ideas, his understands and his questions… As he spoke the master poured the visitor’s cup to the brim, but then kept pouring. The professor watched the overflowing cup until he could no longer restrain himself “It’s full! No more will go in!” the professor blurted. “You are like this cup,” the master replied, “How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup.”"

I am, I have to admit, a terrible “grass is greener” sort of person. I have always been afraid I am missing out on something…

And, I have very broad interests, because of this I am easily (very easily) distracted, and can spend hours thinking about or researching (the internet can really be a curse) something completely irrelevant that I will forget about almost as soon as I have learned it.

I often feel like my teacup is flowing over and I can’t fit any more in. So I end up scattered and, to quote Bilbo Baggins “I feel… thin. Sort of stretched, like… butter scraped over too much bread…”

Which is not really the “Slow Way” (or if you are trying to sound all pretentious, you could be all faux Eastern, mystic and say the “Tao of Slow…”).

In fact, one of the things that first attracted me to the Slow movement and the Idle philosophy was the idea that I could reduce my field of interest. It showed me that I don’t need to know, do or try everything. That I am not really missing out on something if I am not at the forefront of it, if I don’t know everything about it with five minutes.

(I tell you, I am marketers dreams…)

But how do you practically stop yourself from doing this? How do you start to cut back on your fields of interest, of reducing your desire (addiction?) to the new, the fresh, the exciting, the smell of the grass over the fence?

How do you start limiting yourself?

The ‘Not Reading’ List

Ironically, I started limiting myself many years ago, before I had even heard of the Slow movement or before I even realised that I really, really needed to.

When I was at school I was told I was “word blind” (whatever that is?) and that I wouldn’t able to read very well (nothing like a nice positive suggestion is there??), so I hated reading, I was slow and it would take me weeks to read something that other people would read in a day.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, when I left school and thought “Stuff ‘em, if I want to read, I will read!” and started devouring books (I was – and still am – a slow reader, but at least I was motivated to try and read).

I fell in love with books, but soon found that (because I read slowly), if I just rushed to read a book just for the sake of reading that book, I wouldn’t retain any information and it was a pointless waste of time.

I realised I was probably not going to be able to read every book I wanted (or felt I should) and that I needed some form of plan.

At that point I started a ‘NOT Reading’ list and listed books I had no intention of ever reading:

Number one on the list was Gulliver’s Travels.

Number two was anything by Stephen King.

It was of course a dynamic list and I have since read some of the books I had placed on that list (I put “3 Men and Boat” on there as a bit of a knee jerk reaction, because someone kept pestering me that I should read it…), but the sense of relief I got from the decision not to read a book (and stopping beating myself up about having not got round to it) outweighed the gnawing sensation that I was missing out on something…

I still buy too many books. But there you go…

Anyway, I used this same principle to begin a ‘NOT to Do’ list…

The ‘NOT To Do’ List

Since getting into Slow and embracing its philosophy I have expanded this idea to write a ‘NOT To Do List’, things I never intend to do. Ever.

Number one on the list was “Extreme Sports”. There seems to be an odd belief that to “live life to the full” you need to have bungee jumped off a high bridge in Africa or other such pastimes. I spent most of my teens hanging around with these extreme sports guys, doing climbing and white water canoeing and such. And I hated every minute of it (other than the climbing – see my obituary of John Bachar here). It just scared me silly (it was only years later that I discovered the principle of high and low acting arousal systems and found out why I was so scared when everyone else seemed to love it.)

So when I decided to develop my NOT to do list that went straight at number one.

Number Two was backpacking (or “travelling” if you are more of a pretentious ilk). For years I felt like I had missed out on something because I didn’t go travelling when I was younger (it was besides the point I didn’t fancy the idea of cheap flights and fleapit hostels), and always thought I should do it.

Once I added those two to the list I felt an immense sense of relief. I managed to shrug off 2 massive hang-ups that I had.

Then I was on a role!

(Not that I am saying you shouldn’t be doing those, I am just using them as an illustration of things I have added to my not to do list and why. You may love extreme sports and backpacking. In which case, go for your like!).

Recently I have added Internet Forums to the list  (I just can’t cope with all the bickering) and I am seriously thinking about adding Twitter. I don’t get it and I can’t be bothered and it stresses me out because I feel I should be on twitter (because everyone else is, right? See, how this works?).

Tim Ferriss calls this “selective ignorance”, he uses it mainly in the context of information overload and doesn’t read papers and only checks his email once a week (I am still developing my slow email strategy – I will write about it once I have it sorted-ish).

Sherlock Holmes, that famous fictional detective, was well known for having very little “general knowledge” and avoided anything that didn’t directly effect (or is that ‘affect’? I am never sure) what he is currently working on. Although he knew a lot (he is often considered a polymath), he only knew it in the context of what he needed it for (I am not suggesting you be this strict with yourself!)

How do you start your ‘NOT To Do’ List?

Easy. But it does take a bit soul searching and discipline; you have to be honest with yourself.

I highly recommend you treat your ‘Not To Do’ list in the exactly the same way as a ‘To Do’ list: Write it down. Not on a scrap of paper, but in a decent notebook (so you won’t lose it). I also add a date and a reason why (some things I have added to my list I have come back to years later and can’t remember why I added them in the first place).

So, what do you put your list?

Well, listing things you never intended to do in the first place can act as catalyst to get you going, but it does seem a bit pointless if you have already, resolutely, made up your mind you are not going to do it. I could add “join the BNP” to my list if I wanted, but that seems rather daft…

So, begin with things that you feel you should do (see the “dreaded shoulds” here), these are often the things we struggle with in a our daily lives, never really get round to doing (because you don’t really want to do it), but they seem to gnaw await at you, you get a nagging feeling you ought do them…

Then start listing things you are doing now just for the sake of. You probably have lots of habits that have just developed over the years that no longer really have any reasonable function, you just do them because you have always done them.

Not sure if it should be on the list? Put it on for a week and see if you miss it, if you last a week, leave it there for a month, if after a month you still haven’t needed to do or missed it, put it on forever.

You see, the idea of a good ‘NOT To Do’ list, is to start cutting back on what you are doing now as well as resolving not to do new (irrelevant) things.

Then of course, it frees up time and energy (and, often, money too) to do the things you actually want to do, but we will talk about that next time…

Matt

Saint Monday Coaching and The Tai Chi Guy

Hello,

Just a shortish post to let you know what I have been up to.

Saint Monday Coaching

Firstly I have a new coaching practice in Cardiff, South Wales, where I will be doing coaching and teaching (one to one at the moment) Tai Chi and Meditation/mindfulness.

I will still be doing telephone and Skype sessions for people who cannot meet face to face, so don’t worry, but if you do want face-to-face sessions and can get to Cardiff, it would be great to see you there!

I will be seeing clients on a Monday between 3pm and 9pm (I have dubbed it my “Saint Monday Coaching Practice”!) at:
Associated Contemporary Therapists LTD
53 The Parade
Roathe
Cardiff
CF24 3AB
www.actcardiff.co.uk

The coaching page will be updated as soon as I can (I am away for the next month and off doing trainings, so I may not get the chance to do it until I get back). If you or anyone you know may be interested, either give the coaching page a read to find out more about what I do, or feel free to contact me by clicking here.

The Tai Chi Guy

I have been meaning for awhile (well since I started this blog to be honest) to write a post waxing lyrical about my addiction to the magical art of Tai Chi. I have been doing martial arts for over 20 years and I have been Tai Chi for 10 years of that and been teaching martial arts since 1999 (Tai Chi since 2007).

I will be adding details about Tai Chi and how you can learn it very soon, until then check out my dedicated Tai Chi site at www.thetaichiguy.co.uk

So, rather than doing a post here about Tai Chi, I have set up a specific blog about my adventures:

Confessions of a Tai Chi Addict

If you are interested in learning more about Tai Chi (and my often idiosyncratic take on the subject) please check it out. It is in it’s early stages at the moment, so I haven’t added any RSS or anything yet, but things will be added soon(ish).

I think that is about it, I will be back next time chatting more about Slow Blogging and my Slow Blogging Manifesto. When I get round to it.

Now if you will excuse me, all this talk about Tai Chi has put me in the mood to wave my arms around a bit…

Matt

How to Cut Down on Choice: Randomise it!

In a previous post I spoke about the ridiculous level of choice I was bombarded with just to buy a new toaster. The Germans have a phrase for this ‘ die Qual der Wahl’ – the torture of choice. We have so many options we actually get stressed out trying to make decision! It is truly the case of more equals less. The more choices we have the less happy we actually end up.

So how can we limit our choices? Well, I am a big, big fan of “The Dice Man” novel by Luke Rhinehart, it is a satire about a man who delegates all his life decisions to the random rolling of a dice. By removing the conscious decision making process and putting the outcome of any decision in Lady Lucks hands you can reduce stress (the torture of choice) and sometimes come up with options you would never have thought of!

Now, I am not suggesting you go as far as the ideas in the novel suggest and actually randomise all your life decisions, but next time you find yourself in a quandary, if the options are too great and even after you have sorted it for your own criteria (price, preferred colour, whatever) and are still left with more than one option, randomly choose! You could flip a coin (like Two Face in the Batman comics!), role a dice, use a deck of cards, it is totally up to you.

It feels very odd at first, relinquishing control in this way, and you will often find yourself thinking things like “well, best out of 3…” to affect the outcome, but after a few bits of practice you will find it easier to go with the random result, and you will find it fun to see what outcomes spring up!

Over the weekend attempt to make a few (simple and non life changing) decisions by random chance, what to have for tea, what TV show to watch, that sort of thing, Then, once you get the hang of it and start enjoying it more, why not try it out on some buying decisions. I did it with a new camera a few years ago, and I still occasionally do a spot of “dice living” to get myself out of any annoying habitual patterns of behaviour I have picked up.

Have a good (and random!) weekend.

Matt

The Lighter Side of Slow

I remember hearing the late great Robert Anton Wilson talking about the term “Hilaritas”, which is derived from a Greek word, meaning to “live joyfully” and was supposedly used to describe the gods. You could tell they were a god because the had “Hilaritas”.

Humour is incredibly important to the Slow mindset. Humour has power. If you can laugh at something you remove it’s control over you. It is why satire is considered so potent and we used comical propaganda during WWII.

I remember once, when I was still working as an NLP therapist, talking to a group of other therapists and we were chatting about some of our work that we had done. All of a sudden, one of the more earnest therapists just lashed out and said to me “I think you are disgusting! I can’t believe you treat your clients in such a way, you show no respect to them, making fun of them all the time”. I was a bit taken aback, but then explained calmly and gently that I took my clients 100% seriously and treated them with the utmost respect, but what I never did was take their “problems” seriously. As, taking a problem seriously often makes it worse, and if you can get your clients to truly laugh that their problems that can often be enough to make them go away (the problem, not the client!).

In the Slow movement I often meet quite a few earnest people, who take slowing down very seriously. They are somewhat evangelical and critical of other people who do not conform to their understanding of the world (and their understanding of how we should slow down). A friend and I often refer to them as “lentil knitters” and poke a bit of light hearted fun at them. This attitude isn’t helping at all and is often counter productive as turns people off the Slow Movement. Besides, the Slow Movement has no leaders or structure, it is a collection of people embracing the idea of slowing down and rejecting the ethos of “faster is best”, in all it’s forms, there is (as far as I can tell) no “right” or “wrong” way to do it!

So, in this post I thought I would explore the more humorous (yet still important) side of Slowing Down.

The Idler

www.idler.co.uk

I have mentioned the Idler here a few times. It has recently re-invented itself in a more serious guise as a journal of radical thought, but before then it was a tongue in cheek look at the life of loafing. In both its guises I highly recommend it!

The New Escapolosgist

newescapologist.wordpress.com

A new periodical in a similar vein to the Idler. Edited by the Glasgow flâneur Robert Wringham, its purpose is to help its readers “flee the humdrum spreadsheet of prescribed reality into an exciting world of one’s own invention.”

The Church of the Latter Day Dude (Dudeism)

www.dudeism.com

Inspired by the antics of Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski, in the Coen brother film “The Big Lebowski”, they espose a laidback lifestyle. In it’s own words “Come join the slowest-growing religion in the world – Dudeism. An ancient philosophy that preaches non-preachiness, practices as little as possible, and above all, uh…lost my train of thought there. Anyway, if you’d like to find peace on earth and goodwill, man, we’ll help you get started. Right after a little nap…”

The Church of the Subgenius

www.subgenius.com

The aim of the subgenius is to attain SLACK, the “sense of freedom, independence, and original thinking that comes when you achieve your personal goals.” Although a parody of the major cults and religions, the idea if slack is an excellent one!

Discordianism

Similar to The Church of the Subgenius. The Discordian movement is either a “religion disguised as a joke, or a joke disguised as a religion”. It has no central body as one of the basic tenants is that “us Discordians must stick apart”, but you can learn more at it’s Wikipedia page here. Discordianism reminds us not to take anything too seriously and to just let go.

If anyone has any other lighthearted Slow organisations out there, please let me know.

Matt

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The Business Man and the Fisherman (repost)

I did a talk yesterday to a group of business people. It was mainly about customer service, but there was some stuff in there about Slow working practices too.

We talked a bit about success and ambition and it made me recall one of my favourite stories, so I thought I would tell it again here:

There was once an American businessman who had finally taken some time off work to go on holiday with his family (after his wife nagged him and nagged him), whilst taking a walk on the beach one day he saw a fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore and noticed that the fisherman has caught quite a number of big fishes that is known to be a delicacy. The American was really impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fishes?”

The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.”

“Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and you could catch even more?” The businessman was astonished.

The fisherman simply does not agree. “This is enough to feed my whole family,” he says

The businessman then asked, “So, what do you do for the rest of the day then?”

The fisherman replied, “Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fishes, then I would go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I will take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I will join my friends in the village for a drink, we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.”

The businessman does not agree with his way of life and offered a suggestion to the fisherman.

“I am a PhD holder graduated from Harvard University, specialising in business management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fishes as possible. And when you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even more fishes. As you go on, you will be able to afford to buy more boats, recruit more fishermen and lead a team of your own. Soon you will be able to set up your own company, your very own production plant for canned food and do direct selling to your distributors. At that time, you will have moved out of this village and to the City, and then expand your operation to around the world, and finally you can set up your HQ to manage all your other branches.”

The fisherman asks, “So, how long would that take?”

The businessman reply, “About 15 to 20 years.

The fisherman continues, “And after that?”

The businessman laughs heartily, “After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, by then you will be rich, your income will be coming in by the millions!”

The fisherman asks, “And after that?”

The businessman says, “After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning and catch a few fishes, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!”

The fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I am doing now?”

Have a good weekend

Matt

How Much Of Human Life is Lost in Waiting?

“How much of human life is lost in waiting?” is a quote by Henry David Thoreau, the American transcendentalist and author of the seminal slow book “Walden: Or, Life in the Woods”.

It is often misused as an excuse for impatience or trying to do too much. Which is an irony if you know anything about Thoreau’s work!

Waiting is only a state of mind. In the slow philosophy, there is no such thing as waiting, only NOW.

If you are constantly waiting for something; success, happiness, fulfilment, etc you are never going to get it. We so often think “I will be happy when I get that job/I have so much money/that car/whatever” and we sit around and wait for it to come. And when (or if) it does, it is never enough and we want to the next big thing and go back to waiting to be happy…

The truth is you don’t need any of that stuff, you can be happy and fulfilled right now (I have even taught these ideas and techniques to people with chronic pain and terminal illness who have found a massive improvement in their mental state – but I may cover that very sensitive subject in a later post).

So here is a technique to become more mindful today. I learned it from a Special Forces trooper (I know some odd people, I gave a technique from a hippy on my last post!) and I guess those guys really need to be alert and mindful in the present moment, it is what keeps them alive.

But don’t worry, I am not suggesting you dash out and join the Special Forces just to become more mindful!

This technique may be familiar to you if you have done any form of advanced driving and is called “commentary walking” (but you don’t need to be walking, you can be driving, standing still, sat on the train, whatever), it is ideal to practice on your commute home from work tonight.

What you do is exactly what the name implies! You run a commentary (probably best to do it silently in your head) about what is going on around you. Employ all your senses; list three things you can see, three things you can hear, three things you can feel (both emotionally – how are you feeling at the moment? Happy? Relaxed? Tired? – and physically – what can you physically feel around you? The wind your face? The pavement under your feet?), and three things you can smell and even taste (but avoid wandering round inappropriately licking people).

Once you have gone through all five senses. Go back and start, with seeing again. Try and list three new things each time.

Why three things? I don’t know, but it seems to work. As with everything on here, these tips are not set in stone, experiment with it to see what suits you best.

Do this for just five minutes a day, and you will be surprised how much more alert and mindful (and strangely energised) you will feel!

Matt

PS, I was trying to post a YouTube video in here for another post, but couldn’t get it to work. Can anyone tell me how to embed a YouTube video in Wordpress? Thanks!

PPS, If you liked this post, please bookmark it on StumbledUpon, Technorati, Twitter, etc. I would really, really appreciate it

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