The Art of Slow (Part 2)
On the left: Michèle with her dog Scout | On the right: Tori, founder of TLC&Co
As we continue on our own journey this month to slow down, we caught up with a couple of people to understand how they are slow living or adapting to this way of life.
Let us introduce Michèle Mesmain, ex international coordinator of Slow Fish, a seafood spinoff of the Italy-based Slow Food movement, and Tori Lee, founder of TLC&co - a new consultancy rooted in care. We asked them to share their take on slow living, practical ways to slow down and how we can tackle the guilt of doing so.
How would you describe slow living?
MM:
More than the pace of living, slow living has to do with finding joy in restoring as opposed to consuming, knowing that restoring is a profound holistic process: you cannot restore yourself without restoring the community and the relationship to the environment as a provider of food, beauty and life. That will set the pace.
TL:
Doing less but doing it well. I’ve become an advocate for this as it’s what I need to sustain myself, a business and a well-balanced life. I would love to see the slow living approach applied to the corporate world and become viewed as a strength. Imagine this: your manager tells you to take on a project, go away and take your time with it - what would this do for workplace wellness and job satisfaction? When we take time out, we allow ourselves to see more, ask questions and get better results. Take an artisan, for example; the amount of care he will go to to create a thing of beauty takes consideration. In the same way, applying care to how we develop a product, champion a cause, counsel a client or rethink approaches to be more sustainable require totality and strategic thinking. Taking time to give something, or someone, your undivided attention is a great gift. People are busy and running from one task or place to another. So, how I see it, the art of slowing down, appreciating the moment, finding a better solution gets lost. In losing this, we miss out on the magic and beauty of wonderful "ah-ha" moments, sincere connections and overall personal fulfilment.
What are some of the realistic ways people can slow down?
MM:
One way would be to stop filling our lives with rubbish to fill a void, without ever filling it, and the type that is a socioeconomically status declaration. Our actual needs are very basic. Our desires are limitless and often not our own, and more often than not, we get in the way of meeting our real deeper needs, including the essential need to find our sense of place in this world and universe.
Michèle’s everyday transport
TL:
Start small, stay committed and become a champion for others. You can try setting the alarm for 15-minutes a day to breathe, listen to a meditation, or sit with a cup of coffee - whatever you need at that moment. Get into a good posture, practise diaphragmatic breathing; feel your ribs expand and contract, breathe in calm, and breathe out anything you no longer need. Get your colleagues, family and friends to join you and create your own little mini slow movement.
How can we stop feeling guilty when we want to (or need to!) take a break?
MM:
Recognising the importance of making time for a break, for family, for oneself, for finding meaning to anything we do, is a chosen lifestyle conducive to restoration.
Homemade mandarin liqueur
TL:
A break now will save a breakdown later. A short break can do wonders for creative thinking, problem solving and productivity. Think about the car analogy running on empty vs fully fuelled. Do you want to show up in life as your whole self or just a fragment? The more we honour ourselves and aren’t apologetic about needing time out, the more we can change the narrative to be healthier. There is no shame in exercising boundaries in the name of integrity. Who wants to do a bad job? Take the time you need and remember you can always say, “let me come back to you once I’ve given this some proper thought.”
There we have it. The art of slow, told through the minds of two individuals on the path. If you want some help on how to carve out more time for a cup of joe or to hear more about the benefits slow living can foster, you know where we are. Make life matter—and happy staycation season to all our friends.