I’m glad this was my first activity on a Saturday morning. When we used to go out ;)
I’d hear the “who has time to read” comment quite often from friends, neighbors and colleagues. Always followed by a short chuckle. It’s become almost akin to who has time to cook? Who has time to mow their own lawn, who has time for a 1
hour podcast? When you think about all of the times you’ve heard “Who has time for (fill in the blank) it really makes you contemplate what are you making time for. I’ve thought about your thesis in the past and ironically, probably for only fleeting moments at a time. The tentacles from this reach to personal fulfillment, desired depths of relationships and honestly, overall well being. Thank you for sharing, Adam. I appreciate the time you’ve put into extracting this out of your observations and personal experiences.
From Thoreau's essay Walking, "Some of my townsmen, it is true, can remember and have described to me some walks which they took ten years ago, in which they were so blessed as to lose themselves for half an hour in the woods; but I know very well that they have confined themselves to the highway ever since." https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1862/06/walking/304674/
This resonates so strongly with me on so many levels, Adam. For one thing, I'm a hardcore bibliophile who wishes I could just read for a living. (I'd be a wealthy woman by now if it were a paid profession!) For another, I'm one of the people you reference who feels continuously behind or “out-of-the-loop” on new technologies and have spent the last 4 months in a state of overwhelm. Every day seems to bring some new app or program to learn, only to have it supplanted by something newer and better a few weeks later. And finally, I'm a big fan of SLOW. As I get older and older, time seems to go faster and faster, and the constant hamster wheel only exacerbates that feeling. So I greatly appreciate that you're setting an example by making a "personal commitment to slowness in apportioning attention and digesting ideas", and I'll feel less lonely in my pursuit of same. Thank you!
Loved your article, and I did read it in one go, in my sofa on a Saturday night while the dog and cat are sleeping and snoring in the room. I am a fan and practitioners of slow arts, I enjoy to sit in silence in meditation, and I learn Chinese Tea Art, I write, preferably with pen and on paper. When I do tea, in an artful, slow, way, with exquisite teas, I have had guests bursting into tears with a big smile on their face. Tears of joy, and of relaxation. I once held a tea event for a leadership coach as an experiment, as an aspiring leadership tea-coach. My only intention was to allow this coach without words to see his own stress and let him wound down by bringing the full attention to a small cup of tea. It may have been the first time this man had absolutely no obligations to perform. He was moved to tears at the second pot of tea. It is as if many of us have forgotten how to slow down, and enjoy the bliss of being able to focus on one small, beautiful, natural sensation for a few minutes. What if leaders could just sit down with one small cup of tea, or read a poem, or look outside to the vast blue sky, and pause for a while, before taking important decisions. To get the perspective right. I wonder if that would make the world different? At least I think it would.
Thanks for the lovely and thoughtful comment, Pernilla. It was actually an invitation to back and read the essay, which I wrote over a year ago. Since then, I've had a lot of time to reflect on slowness as a practice, which I am guessing you do too as a "practitioner of the slow arts." While I think moments of slowness and even stillness are imperative for both reflection and recharging our energies for the important work ahead, the integration of these spaces into the patterning of one's life is where even greater impact lies. In a cultural climate where even a single moment of slowness seems challenging for most to justify, my experience is that it begins with permission—allowing ourselves to be in that space not because it is going to enhance productivity per the Tolentino quote, but because it reconnects us to self, other humans, the more than human world, and place.
A great article Adam, but true confessions, I read it over a three day period, you have just proven your point. I loved your conclusion. Cheers Mitch
Too funny, Mitch. Thanks for reading it over whatever time frame it takes :)
I’m glad this was my first activity on a Saturday morning. When we used to go out ;)
I’d hear the “who has time to read” comment quite often from friends, neighbors and colleagues. Always followed by a short chuckle. It’s become almost akin to who has time to cook? Who has time to mow their own lawn, who has time for a 1
hour podcast? When you think about all of the times you’ve heard “Who has time for (fill in the blank) it really makes you contemplate what are you making time for. I’ve thought about your thesis in the past and ironically, probably for only fleeting moments at a time. The tentacles from this reach to personal fulfillment, desired depths of relationships and honestly, overall well being. Thank you for sharing, Adam. I appreciate the time you’ve put into extracting this out of your observations and personal experiences.
From Thoreau's essay Walking, "Some of my townsmen, it is true, can remember and have described to me some walks which they took ten years ago, in which they were so blessed as to lose themselves for half an hour in the woods; but I know very well that they have confined themselves to the highway ever since." https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1862/06/walking/304674/
This resonates so strongly with me on so many levels, Adam. For one thing, I'm a hardcore bibliophile who wishes I could just read for a living. (I'd be a wealthy woman by now if it were a paid profession!) For another, I'm one of the people you reference who feels continuously behind or “out-of-the-loop” on new technologies and have spent the last 4 months in a state of overwhelm. Every day seems to bring some new app or program to learn, only to have it supplanted by something newer and better a few weeks later. And finally, I'm a big fan of SLOW. As I get older and older, time seems to go faster and faster, and the constant hamster wheel only exacerbates that feeling. So I greatly appreciate that you're setting an example by making a "personal commitment to slowness in apportioning attention and digesting ideas", and I'll feel less lonely in my pursuit of same. Thank you!
Loved your article, and I did read it in one go, in my sofa on a Saturday night while the dog and cat are sleeping and snoring in the room. I am a fan and practitioners of slow arts, I enjoy to sit in silence in meditation, and I learn Chinese Tea Art, I write, preferably with pen and on paper. When I do tea, in an artful, slow, way, with exquisite teas, I have had guests bursting into tears with a big smile on their face. Tears of joy, and of relaxation. I once held a tea event for a leadership coach as an experiment, as an aspiring leadership tea-coach. My only intention was to allow this coach without words to see his own stress and let him wound down by bringing the full attention to a small cup of tea. It may have been the first time this man had absolutely no obligations to perform. He was moved to tears at the second pot of tea. It is as if many of us have forgotten how to slow down, and enjoy the bliss of being able to focus on one small, beautiful, natural sensation for a few minutes. What if leaders could just sit down with one small cup of tea, or read a poem, or look outside to the vast blue sky, and pause for a while, before taking important decisions. To get the perspective right. I wonder if that would make the world different? At least I think it would.
Thanks for the lovely and thoughtful comment, Pernilla. It was actually an invitation to back and read the essay, which I wrote over a year ago. Since then, I've had a lot of time to reflect on slowness as a practice, which I am guessing you do too as a "practitioner of the slow arts." While I think moments of slowness and even stillness are imperative for both reflection and recharging our energies for the important work ahead, the integration of these spaces into the patterning of one's life is where even greater impact lies. In a cultural climate where even a single moment of slowness seems challenging for most to justify, my experience is that it begins with permission—allowing ourselves to be in that space not because it is going to enhance productivity per the Tolentino quote, but because it reconnects us to self, other humans, the more than human world, and place.
You have the gift of words!