Psychologically Speaking

with Stewart Hase

Slow down, you move too fast

I'm a bit fascinated by mobile phone users and the level of stress that they must be under. You know the ones. The plane is just coming to a stop at the terminal and the seat belt sign goes off. Even before people dive into the aisle to get their bags out of the lockers and get off the plane (you don't want to be left on the plane after all) the phones start beeping. Its as if there is not a moment to lose. Either that or these people must be very important and that the world somehow will come to a catastrophic end if the message bank is not accessed for vital information. Perhaps they just need directions out of the airport! It's now quite common practice for people to even text message on planes. Scary! Mind you, not quite as scary as these people who receive and send text messages while driving their car.

This mobile phone behaviour is a metaphor for our lives right now isn't it? There never seems to be enough time. It's rush, rush, rush for every frantic, activity filled second of the day. It's mad and it's killing us. But, you know, it isn't quite as necessary to behave like this at all. I suspect it's become a bit of a habit and we have got caught up in a sort of treadmill and, like the mice, we are chasing our own tails. And, of course, we are encouraged by all sorts of stakeholders to keep right on behaving like this. Politicians want us to work until we drop and never retire, advertisers want us to keep on consuming (and therefore work frantically to pay for our consumption), our employers want us to work longer for less, and there is a constant message that we might be left behind unless we keep running hard. Sadly, we are increasingly treating each other poorly as we aggressively jostle and push those around us in order to get to the front of the queue first.

I'm not quite convinced it has to be like this. Recently I heard about the idea of 'slow education'. In this innovative school the pressure is being taken off children to perform, rather they are being given time to fully interact with each other and the world in order to really learn. My own experience, and I've been the biggest workaholic of them all in my past, is that it is possible to change your behaviour and find that the world does not come to an end. Actually it seems to revolve that little bit better. So, now I'm into slow living.

Slow living means answering your emails twice a day rather than leaving your email on all the time and jumping to attention when it yells at you that a message has arrived. It means leaving the mobile at home when you go fishing, walking, to the movies, or having a meal. Eat your meals slowly, take time out during the day to exercise or at least enjoy the fresh air. I have found out that I still manage to get most things done and if I don't the sky doesn't fall in. Obviously a part of this is getting the priorities right since some things just cannot be ignored.

Joining the slow living club means focusing on the moment, rather than what has to be done later or what was done yesterday, and experiencing the moment fully. Breathing slow is essential as is refusing to fret about the small stuff. This takes effort. Its much easier to get stressed or angry than it is to be relaxed. But if you can slow down it will change the way you enjoy people and how you feel about yourself. After all the only thing we really have that is important is our relationships. Try losing them and see what happens.

Slow living. Who'd like to join?