Slower Than Expected Blogging

 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).

Unfortunately, due to a few changes in my day-to-day life recently I am going to have to put this blog on a bit of a hiatus. It doesn’t mean I am stopping this blog, it just means that entries will be even slower than usual.

For more regular updates you can visit my twitter feed (I am finally getting the hang of it), I have added an update bar at the side of this blog that you can see (or click on the link under “social profiles” to follow me on twitter). In my twitter feed I talk about everything that interests me from the Slow Movement, to NLP, to philosophy, to random thoughts and ideas.

A Slight Facelift

As you can probably see, if you are regular visitor here, that I have made a few changes around here (partly to reflect my current situation and partly to update it to my changing attitudes towards the slow philosophy). I am updating these pages as and when I can and should get it done in a week or two.

Giving it All Away

Because of the changes, I have had to also put a hold on the online course I was planning to launch. To make up for that, click on the “free stuff” tab and you can download:

“Welcome to the Slow Life”
This 48 minute audio and 44-page ebook (an edited transcript of the audiobook) covers everything you need to know about the Slow Movement, slowing down, the idler and as well as exercises, tips and techniques to help you slow down right away.

“Deep Relaxation Primer” Audio Programme
In this audio programme you will be taken through a simple exercise that will help you deeply relax and remove all that tension and stress from your body and mind and allow you take on life with an increased sense of wellbeing, confidence and vitality.

“What’s the Rush” ebook
This 32-page ebook gives you ten simple tips to start slowing down, including breathing and postural exercise, a portrait of an idler and an Idlers Journal.

“Welcome to the Slow Live – LIVE!!” Audio 
This talk was recorded LIVE at the Vision For Living Festival in Cardiff on the 31st October 2009.

Coaching and Consulting

I am still seeing people for one to one coaching in how to slow down, mindfulness, etc. But my time is now a bit more limited. If  you are interested in coaching, either face-to-face on by Skype please click on the coaching tab.

Well, as Lau Tzu once said “May you live in interesting times. Or die of boredom“, I am certainly living in interesting times at the moment! I will be back with more updates as often as I can.

Matt

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:

Slow Twittering: Is It Possible? And, Should I Bother?

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).

I have never got Twitter. I have, in fact, been quite mean about it in the past (see my “Twittering Nonsense” post here), then I changed my mind and decided, misquoting Shakespeare (one of my all time favourite people), that “there is nothing (inherently) slow or fast, but thinking (or acting) makes it so”.

So, I decided I would give it a go (you can see my thought process on this post here), and set up a Twitter account (twitter.com/theslowcoach), due to a tiny legal issue (which I won’t go into, it is very embarrassing) I had to change that, so I changed to twitter.com/tortoisemind. But I never really got the hang of it and only really used it to bookmark these blog entries (I mainly got talked into Twitter as a way to promote myself, which is wrong, I know!).

I never really tried to get any followers or follow anyone. I just couldn’t get my head round it (I had a friend – somewhat of a self proclaimed internet marketing “expert” – try and explain what I should be doing on several occasions, but it all seemed far to complicated, and cynical – but more on that in a little while – for me).

Blogging Too Slowly?

But, since deciding to make this a Slow Blog, and taking the pressure off myself to write an entry regularly, even if I couldn’t think of anything to say, I thought I would take another look at Twitter and see if I can get into it.

I have to say, I have relaxed a tad too much and have had to really force myself to write something on this blog! For the first two weeks it didn’t even crossed my mind to blog, it was great, I felt a sense of freedom and relaxation I hadn’t had for a long time. And, that is really the point, slowing down, isn’t really about being slow, it is about following your own rhythm and if you are not in the mood to do something you shouldn’t force yourself.

However, maybe I relaxed a little too much…?

After those first two weeks, October became incredibly hectic; I had four trainings courses to run and a very long list of things I really needed to get done (I don’t as a general rule agree with to do lists, but in this case it was needed), so I didn’t get the chance to even think about writing a blog entry until it was all over (which it is now, thank goodness. I was so frazzled I just couldn’t move for a day or two! Idlers like me are not used to that much intense work all in one go…)

Anyway, back to the Twitter thing. I thought, since taking the pressure off myself to try and write a blog every day, I could start using twitter for more regular updates.

Is it really possible to be a Slow Twitterer? I don’t know, I am still mulling it over, I will continue to try and experiment, but here are my thoughts so far.

Three Things About Twitter That I Don’t Like (because they seem “anti-slow”)

1) It seems rather pointless. I already have plenty of ways to keep in touch with my friends (text, email, letter, and – shock, horror – actually talking to them face to face) and facebook (which I use, but am not the biggest fan of – read Tom Hodgkinson’s excellent article on it here) already has a status update option, why do I need another way to tell people what I am up to? And do they really care?

2) The whole essence of Twitter encourages impatience and lack of attention. If you don’t tweet at least every 33 seconds people will stop following you, heading off to find another font of instant information.

But the big thing that about Twitter is this (and it isn’t really twitters fault, but…)…

3) …like all other social networking sites (but Twitter, with it’s simplicity, seems to encourage this behaviour most), the minute it becomes popular, “methods” spring up to help you promote yourself and suddenly it is flooded with wannabe entrepreneurs, all shouting about their own stuff. My aforementioned friend told me that how I should be using Twitter is to search for people who are interested (or tweeting about) the area of work I am in and then become friends with them. Twitter etiquette, apparently, is then that they follow you back and VOILA you have someone you can plug your wares to.

The thing that makes me wonder about that is, if you are following them just to get them to follow you, and therefore, have little intention of reading their tweets, how interested do you think they will be in what you have to say? Surely it just ends up with lots of people muttering to themselves?

It just seems that twitter lends itself much more to this banal, self-centred shouting. Breaking the golden rule of “slow blogging” which is a willingness to keep quiet whilst all other bloggers are shouting “listen to me, listen to me!” It is about not trying to be the loudest voice out there.

Going Out of Fashion?

However it seems that all this worry about whether I should twitter may be irrelevant. Twitter may have had its day. According to reports and the people rarely check back after the first 2 months(read the Tech Crunch article here and the Harvard Business School blog here, there is more research, but I couldn’t be bothered to search for it).

Membership and usage is dropping by the day and Twitter are desperately adding new features including video tweeting and “lists” (which seem unnecessarily complicated) to try and keep users and attract new ones. A slew of celebrities including (the usually very vocal) Lily Allen and Miley Cyrus have abandoned it, it even slipped down the Sunday Times Style cool list last Sunday (which is usually a death knell)…

Is It Really Worth It?

So it seems to me Twitter is full of celebrities trying to circumvent the gossip columns and tabloid presses to talk to their fans directly (which I think is actually an amiable thing to do) and “entrepreneurs” (I use that word advisedly) muttering to themselves trying to flog their snake oil. The true users (the ones I assume twitter was set up for) seem to have got lost in the middle somewhere (and just seem to follow their favourite “celebrities”).

Basically, it feels horribly, horribly cynical.

Of course, this is a very negative point of view and could possibly be me just trying to justify my total confusion (and disinterest) in it?

So, putting my negative attitude and emotions to one side and assuming Twitter doesn’t go horribly out of fashion in the next few days, how can I attempting to embrace Twitter in a Slow Manner?

Well, Here is My (Very Simple) Slow Twitter Manifesto

1. I tweet when I tweet. Don’t expect regular updates, you won’t get them.

2. I will only follow someone, if I genuinely want to hear what they have to say, not so that they will follow me (so don’t follow me just to get a reciprocal follow – you probably won’t get one -  follow me because you want to hear what I have to say).

3. I won’t use twitter just for brainless self promotion, and will only tweet something I think will be of interest to my follows, including links and alerts about new blog entries.

Let’s see how it works out shall we?

Matt

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

This is a Slow Blog

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).

This is a Slow Blog

Slow Blogging applies the slow philosophy to the blogosphere. It eschews the current blogging paradigm of “faster equals better” and that posting blog entries frequently is necessary, or in fact, that posting frequently is the “right way” to blog. This blog “happens when it happens” and will be updated as and when I have something I think is really worth sharing, rather than just writing something to get an entry in (often just to keep the search engines happy!). Which means you may get an entry a week, a month, or even several a day, depending on what I have to say and what I am up to.

Because this is a slow blog and by its very nature not updated regularly (I aim for once a week, often I miss), may I suggest you subscribe by RSS by clicking here, or subscribe to receive email updates by clicking here. If you are new to blogging and RSS and not sure what all that means, click here for an FAQ.

A Slow Blogging Manifesto

Inspired by Todd Sieling, below is my Slow Blogging Manifesto (this is only a first draft and may, or will, change). To read Todd’s own manifesto click here (and I can’t help but have some of my manifesto very similar to some of his, one I have quoted directly, as I cannot say it better myself…).

1. Slow bloggers blog for people, not search engines, page ranks or technorati authority.

2. “Slow Blogging is a rejection of immediacy. It is an affirmation that not all things worth reading are written quickly, and that many thoughts are best served after being fully baked and worded in an even temperament.”  Todd Sieling

3. It is a willingness to keep quiet whilst all other bloggers are shouting “listen to me, listen to me!” It is about not trying to be the loudest voice out there.

4. Slow Blogging is not about chasing the news or Google hot trends just for a few hits. It is about not sprinting to a response or reacting to this rush of information in our world of 24 hour rolling news. The world is moving fast and trying to keep up means often that you sacrifice quality for speed. Slow blogging looks at the bigger picture not at micro-trends.

5. Slow Blogging concentrates on one thing at a time.

6. Slow Blogging is about substance to posts, not just banal clichés and one-line sound bites that sound good but are ultimately vacuous. Think. Study. Consider. Write. Then post.

7. The posts won’t rush to get to the point; they will take you on a journey. Some entries may be rambling and long winded (that is, in fact, a good thing. James Joyce didn’t rush Ulysses…).

8. Slow Blogging re-establishes technology as the agent of human expression, rather than technology as the master of human expression. It is about reclaiming the internet and creating an island of calm reflection and consideration in this stormy ocean of information…

To learn more about other slow bloggers, follow the links below:

Todd Sieling: www.toddsieling.com/slowblog

NY Times:  Blogging at a Snails Pace:

Barbara Ganley www.bgblogging.com

Russell Davies’ Dawdlr blog:  dawdlr.tumblr.com

A “Slow Blog” Or Rather, A “Bright Blog” Manifesto

SlowBlogs @ Blogspot slowblogs.blogspot.com

The Guardian: The bloggers who take it one post at a time

It Happens When It Happens

Well, I am sorry for not blogging for over 2 weeks, I have been on holiday and on my return had a lot of little bits to sort out.

I spent a lovely week in Crete, nice food, nice wine, just sunbathing and catching up on a pile of books I wanted to read.

Whilst I was away I found myself thinking about how to continue with this blog. When I started blogging seriously a while ago I did a lot of research into what it takes to make a “successful” blog. I found myself being seduced by all the pro-bloggers out there who say you should blog every day and seem to be incredibly prolific, particularly the excellent and prolific Leo Babauta of Zen Habits. So I tried to write a blog entry every day. Even if I didn’t really want to.

I suddenly realised I had been seduced by speed again!

I was blogging every day because I thought I should, not because I was inspired to. Sometimes I would throw up an entry just to get one up there and I was worrying so much about just getting something up on this blog that I wasn’t taking the time to write some of the more indepth posts about certain subjects that I really wanted to. Blogging was making me stressed! I was starting to resent blogging, I started to dread that time of day or week when I had to sit down and write an entry. My mind would go blank, I would start to sweat and eventually I would just write anything to get it out of the way…

I wasn’t planning any entries because I wasn’t enjoying doing it and I was treating them like a chore I had to get out of the way before I could get on with my “proper work”.

You see, the pro-bloggers I had been trying to emulate just blogged (actually saying “just” sounds like a criticism, which it isn’t, it would be better to say primarily blog), however, even though I blog. Quite a lot. I write 3 other blogs than this one:

www.thepracticebuilderblog.com – where I give advice on how to run a therapy or coaching practice

mattcaulfield.blogspot.com – This was my first ever blog and has been going since 2005. Nowadays I use to write my thoughts about NLP (Neuro linguistic Programming) and related subjects.

thetaichiguy.blogspot.com – A brand new blog talking about my practice of the amazing art of Tai Chi.

I am not primarily a blogger. I would consider myself primarily a coach, consultant and trainer/teacher. I spend most of my time working with people helping them slow down. Blogging is a big part of that, but it is not the biggest part, if that makes sense?

So, by trying to emulate the people who primarily blog, I was finding the quality of my blogging was slipping, some days I would be proud of what I had written, other days I would just slap something up, not planning, not proof reading and not particularly caring. I didn’t feel many of my entries really captured my personality and the passion for the subject that I have.

Something had to be done!

And that is when I made the decision to commit myself fully to the slow blogging ideal. I wrote a couple of entries sometime ago about Slow Blogging (see the posts here and here) and then totally failed to actually start slow blogging!

So, I am now…

Slow bloggers eschew the idea of immediacy in blogging for a more measured and considered post. It is about quality not quantity and lives by the axiom “it happens when it happens”.

So, from now on I am no longer going to rush out entries just for the sake of posting. I am going to think, plan, study, draft and (endeavour) to write longer, better written entries with more depth. Hopefully. I will, of course, post shorter blogs, from time to time with news and interesting tidbits I have to say that don’t require a more detailed entry.

In fact, to move away from the association that blogging has with immediacy, I intend to call this a journal from now on, not a blog.

The aim is to write a well-developed entry once a week, with maybe the occasionally serial spread out over days or weeks. To be honest, I don’t know yet, I am still working it all out.

I will be updating this site over the next week or so to reflect this shift of emphasis and will be adding more information about Slow Blogging, including my own Slow Blog Manifesto.

I hope you stick with me whilst I experiment and find my feet.

Now, if you will excuse me, I am off to take the dogs for a walk.

Matt

PS, I will also be applying the idea to twitter. Where I intend to “twitter when I twitter” no sooner, no later. I have never really got my tortoise mind around twitter and hopefully this new philosophy will help. Who knows? It’s all very exciting isn’t it?!

A Quick (!) Update

Hi,

Sorry for the lack of blogging of late. I have been away on holiday and whilst I was away I have been finding myself mulling over the future of the blog/journal part of this site. I will publish a full entry about this and what I intend to do in the next few days. Please bear with me until then (I am sure you will, this is a Slow Blog afterall!).
Matt

Gone Away…

I am away until the 8th September, normal service will resume then!

Matt

Saint Monday

I am, as ever, celebrating Saint Monday today. Although, with England finishing off the Aussies yesterday, I have no idea what I am going to do!

Matt

Saint Monday

I am celebrating Saint Monday and will be back tomorrow.

Matt

PS, I am finally getting round to (a long awaited) update of the static pages on the site. Hopefully be finished in the next few weeks and will keep you informed of my progress in the blog.

Thoughts From a Deck Chair

Firstly, a bit of news…

1) Because I am no longer using “The Slow Coach” title, I have changed my twitter account, you can now follow my random, sporadic, few and far between tweets, then you can now follow me at www.twitter.com/tortoisemind or click on the Social Profile button up there on the sidebar.

2) A bit more business minded? Connect with me on LinkedIn. My LinkedIn profile covers everything I do, from the Slow work to the NLP training and consultancy, to the mentoring I do with other coaches and therapists. You can connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/mattcaulfield, or use the Social profile button.

3) Still not a member of my facebook page? Well, that hasn’t changed, what are you waiting for?! Join me here or, again, use the Social buttons up there on the right.

I think that is about it…

When I started this blog, way back on a free wordpress site, it was called “Thoughts from a Deck Chair” and was really just my musings, thoughts, ideas and observations on life, the Slow Movement and how I was incorporating it into my daily life. Somewhere along the way, it morphed into more of a “how to” blog, giving hints tips and ideas. I think I was a bit scared, to be honest, that people wouldn’t be that interested in my ramblings and wouldn’t read, so I had to try and offer something useful to keep my readers happy (and coming back for more and recommending me/linking to my posts, etc). I think I got a bit carried away after reading lots of books on how to be a successful blogger that told me that I had to offer advice, or hints and tips, etc.

But, after a bit of feedback, readers seem to want to hear about my ideas, musing and goings on as much as hints and tips about what you need to do to Slow Down.

So, I endeavour, from now on, to give you regular updates about my attempts to slow down as well as the hitns and tips, etc.

What do you think? Please feel free to leave a comment letting me know what you want me to write about!

Matt

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