Time for Tea

I love this video that contrasts a calm, tranquil tea with the bustling world all around.

The team of students who created it wrote this in the YouTube notes:

In 1982 Larry Dossey, an American physician, coined the term “time-sickness” to describe the obsessive belief that “time is getting away, that there isn’t enough of it, and that you must pedal faster and faster to keep up”.

Guy Claxton, a British psychologist, thinks acceleration is now second nature to us: “We have developed an inner psychology of speed, of saving time and maximising efficiency, which is getting stronger by the day”.

These comments and quotes motivated our group to base our final Unit 1 project on the new trend of ‘slow’ living; to ask ourselves whether conducting one’s day to day actions slowly genuinely promotes quality of life, and whether this quality can generate happiness and wellbeing.

It’s a simple concept; no surprises. But I went ahead and took the time (2 minutes, 15 seconds) to watch it all the way through, and the light, peaceful music gave me a few minutes to ponder the “not so fast” life.

I’m speaking Saturday morning at the Gaither Family Resources annual English Tea. I can’t think of a more perfect setting to encourage people to examine their fast-paced worlds—like the video illustrates, I hope that the slow English Tea setting will help us all feel the contrast with the fast-paced worlds we will have stepped out for a few blissful hours.