Links

People all over the Internet are exploring slower lifestyles. Visiting their sites will provide a glimpse into life in the Slow Zone.

Disclaimer:  These families and individuals are choosing to slow down for a variety of reasons, so please proceed knowing that philosophies and religious views may differ from my own and David C. Cook’s (publisher of Not So Fast).

Blogs

• Living, Learning and Loving Simply: The mother of four children, this mama-blogger has said that her purpose in this stage of life is to love God and others through homemaking and hospitality. Through her kind and positive tone, she offers helpful tips and thoughts as she ponders her simple, slower life.
• Walk Slowly, Live Wildly
• Holy Experience Ann Voskamp seeks to create an online oasis via her Web site. Though designed as a blog, she has chosen to turn off the comments feature and encourage visitors to simply pause, read, and reflect. If people are struck with a thought that they long to share, Ann asks that they contact her by e-mail. Married to her farmer husband and home educating their six kids, Ann is practicing photography, writing blog posts that flow like poetry, pondering, and praying to (in her own words from the bottom of her home page) “slow and see/the sacred in the chaos/the Cross in the clothespin/the flame in the bush.” She does all of that, and invites us into it.
  
• Overcoming Busy
• Flourishing Mother
• Simple Mom
• Simple Kids
• Slow Family Living
• Free Range Kids
• Notes from the Frugal Trenches: Mom-blogger in London writes about her simpler life. Includes categories such as how she views downshifting, frugal food, frugal travel, and her No Spending Days.
• The Sloth Ethic: I suppose there’s such a thing as too slow. Does this blog promote a too-slow life? Tagline reads, “A blog about not getting things done.” But here’s a quote from one of his entries: “[C]ompulsion is the antithesis of the Sloth Ethic way, because part of the beauty of slowing down is that you take control of your own life again, in a world which is endlessly trying to take it from you.”
• Carl Honore’s blog: Author of In Praise of Slow and Under Pressure, Carl Honore continues to explore where in the world people are speeding up and slowing down.
• Slow Leadership blog: Offering ideas for returning humanity and and civilizations to organizations (their description).
• Slower Living: They seem to have stopped posting in 2008, but the archives remain for curious readers. They write, “Slower Living is moving through life at a pace that lets you enjoy whatever comes along, instead of chasing after what you don’t have and may never achieve…time and attention are essential to proper enjoyment and understanding. If you gobble down your food, you’ll hardly taste it — and you’ll probably suffer from indigestion as well. If you rush headlong through a beautiful garden, you’ll see nothing. If you run as fast as you can allong a path, you may well trip and fall.”
• These Days in French Life: check out the left column for her recommended reading for launching a slow year. Most are her own posts, but a few point to outside sources.
• Gravity of Motion published this post of her journey from constant motion to the slower pace of a small town.
• No Impact Man’s blog is by a man who is trying with his family to make the lowest environmental impact possible while living in New York City (a secular approach).
• Semi-Organized Mom posted about going TV-Free, slowing down her family’s intake of shows and ads and encouraging activities that pull them together, like playing games together, reading books, and communicating with each other instead of staring at a screen.

Books

• Little House on the Freeway, by Tim Kimmel. This book has been around since the 1980s, as Dr. Kimmel has been calling out a warning to hurried families. But it seems we’re living lives faster than ever. Not surprisingly, his book is still in print, because a new generation of young families needs to slow down.
• Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, by Dr. Richard Swenson
• The Overload Syndrome: Learning to Live Within Your Limits, by Dr. Richard Swenson
• Raising Kids for True Greatness, by Tim Kimmel
• Making Room for Life: Trading Chaotic Lifestyles for Connected Relationships, by Randy Frazee. The author has summarized and published the main points of his book in this document. It’s a good overview of the book.
• Connecting with Your Kids: How Families Can Move from Chaos to Closeness, by Timothy Smith
• Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family, by Patrick Lencioni.
  Get an overview in this article in MOMSense magazine (January/February 2009). He also explains his three big questions for a frantic family in this podcast.
• In Praise of Slowness, by Carl Honore, gives a history of our culture’s addiction to speed, starting with the Industrial Revolution, then explores several trends toward slower living and working. He talks about how people are slowing down at work to be more effective, neighborhoods are being designed to promote a slower lifestyle, people are cooking and eating more slowly in order to really savor it. There is even a slow approach to exercise and education. In Praise of Slowness is an interesting book written by a journalist trying to report objectively while processing it personally. However, be warned:  Honore presents a New Age approach to several things, including a chapter on slower  intimacy for couples. Read selectively with caution and discernment.
• Under Pressure: Rescuing our Children from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting, by Carl Honoré
• Creating Family Traditions, by Gloria Gaither and Shirley Dobson
• Let’s Make a Memory, by Gloria Gaither and Shirley Dobson
• Making Ordinary Days Extraordinary, by Gloria Gaither and Shirley Dobson

Articles

• “How to Let Kids Be Kids,” by Judith Newman, San Francisco Chronicle, San Fancisco, CA, July 29, 2009 (accessed August 8, 2009).
  
• “Back to Nature: Getting kids to rediscover the great outdoors,” by Mary Ellen Gabriel, The Capital Times, Madison, WI, July 1, 2009 (accessed July 6, 2009).
  
• “Slow Down, You Move Too Fast,” by Jay Walljasper, New Statesman, Vol. 126, April 11, 1997 (accessed June 23, 2009 at Questia.com).
• “Unexpected Benefits: Forced by recession to cut back, families find new ways to connect,” by Maggie Jackson, The Boston Globe (boston.com), May 10, 2009 (accessed May 10, 2009).
• “Life at a Snail’s Pace,” by Jess Cartner-Morley, The Guardian, April 15, 2009 (accessed April 16, 2009). The author is challenged to write about the Slow Movement and experimenting with it for one day, finds it merely a ” lovely idea.” By trying to live a little slower, she’s bored and frustrated with scheduling setbacks. She ends with, “I just wish there were more hours in the day.” In my opinion, slow living is so counter-cultural, you can’t expect to adjust to it in a day while all your fast-paced obligations are in still in motion. It takes time to change our high-speed ways and learn to live slow. Instead of an honest piece of journalism, guess it’s meant only as a humor piece. And that’s fine. Slow isn’t for everyone.
• “‘Slow Movement’ wants you to ease up, chill out,” by John Blake, CNN.com/Living, published June 6, 2008 (accessed March 13, 2009).
• “The Slow Movement Isn’t Just About Food,” by Lloyd Alter, The Huffington Post, published August 31, 2008 (accessed March 13, 2009). The article highlights several subtopics, such as The Slow Home, Slow Cities, Slow Travel, Slow Flying, Slow Design, Slow Fashion, Slow Freight, even Slow Cars.
• “The Slow Life Picks Up Speed,” by Penelope Green, The New York Times, published January 31, 2008 (accessed March 13, 2009).
• “Slow Down! You Move Too Fast,” by Adrienne Mand, ABC News, published November 1, 2004 (accessed March 13, 2009).
• “The Slow Movement: Hurry Up and Slow Down,” by Andrew May, Flying Solo, (accessed March 13, 2009)
• “Recession? The Perfect Time to Slow Down,” by Carl Honore, The Guardian, published Thursday, July 24, 2008 (accessed March 13, 2009)
• “Slow down, you move too fast,” by Paul Cabray, The Gazette, canada.com, November 10, 2008 (accessed March 14, 2009). This is a review of a book by Andy Merrifield called The Wisdom of Donkeys (which I’ve not yet read).
• “Slow Parenting Movement: Quitting the Childhood Rat Race,” by Kim Hays, The Orlando Sentinel, March 12, 2009 (accessed March 13, 2009).
• “The ‘Slow Parenting’ Movement,” by Carolyn Douglas, King5.com, March 10, 2009 (accessed March 13, 2009). Nice video that summarizes some of the ideas—especially cutting down on kids’ activities to enjoy simple, quality time with their kids (and enjoy some simple grown-up time, too).
• “Slow Parenting: Gently does it with the parent whisperer,” by Cassandra Jardine, Telegraph, April 17, 2008 (accessed March 13, 2008).
• “Slow parenting part two: hey, parents, leave those kids alone,” by Cassandra Jardine, Telegraph, March 27, 2008 (accessed March 13, 2008).
• “What Is Slow Parenting?” by Lisa Belkin, the Motherlode blog, The New York Times, April 8, 2009 (accessed April 8, 2009)
• “What’s wrong with boredom: unstructured time is the mother of creativity,” by Sara BonGiori, The Christian Science Monitor, September 9, 2008 (accessed April 10, 2009).
• “Introducing the Seven Hypes,” excerpted from No More Push Parenting, by Elisabeth Guthrie, M.D., Kathy Matthews (accessed April 10, 2009).
• “Creating Family Memories & Traditions” (from the Family Matters Christmas newsletter)
• “The Art of Food,” editorial by Janis Hashe, Feast–The Annual Food Issue, The Pulse, March 11, 2009 (accessed March 13, 2009).
• “Go Slow in Tuscany,” by Shilpa Baliga, Ezine Articles (accessed March 13, 2009).
• “Slow Transition from ‘Megaglow Mart’ to Local Food Zealot,” by Heather Cassidy, New York Mills Herald, April 8, 2009 (accessed April 8, 2009).
• “Mother Nature: Raising Healthier Kids,” panel experts Richard Louv, Martha Farrell Erickson, M.D., and Tedd Mitchell, M.D. moderated by Dennis McCafferty, November 18, 2007 (accessed April 10, 2009).
• “Guilt-Free TV,” by Daniel McGinn, Newsweek, issue dated November 11, 2002 (accessed April 10, 2009).

Websites

• Slow Movement: A secular website publishing articles about such topics as slow travel, slow cities, slow food, and slow schools. Promoting ecological and sustainable ways of thinking and living, helping people start in their own back yards. Some of their articles incorporate Eastern ideas, so run it through your own worldview-filter.
• Slow Planet: They say, “Slow is not about doing everything at a snail’s pace; it’s about working, playing and living better by doing everything at the right speed.” They have some forums and a few blogs on slow-related topics.
• Slow Down Now: The International Institute of Not Doing Much, “Slow Down Now” claims to be “The official website of the International Institute for Not Doing Much. Humorous slow-lifestyle articles and stories from the almost true to the truly absurd.” A lighter look at slowing down.
• Family Matters
  Dr. Tim Kimmel, author of Little House on the Freeway and other books on family matters–many about living a less hurried life–has a website and ministry with resources for families.
• Choosing Voluntary Simplicity
• Center for Screen-Time Awareness (formerly TV-Free America), home of TV Turnoff Week.

* Photo credit: Kriss Szkurlatowski