Choosing Slowness

Rest, resistance and living intentionally

Slow living has come to me as an antidote for chasing dreams that are far removed from unfulfilled wishes I have desired to see born come to fruition. Chasing dreams can be a wonderfully nourishing exploration of the self. However, my argument lies in my private definition of 'chasing'.

Our lifestyle choices are easy to possess with online shopping on Instagram and vision boards left on Pinterest, but when did chasing become possession through purchasing power and click baits. It alters our motivation to earn, own and feel fulfilled in building our lives. In recent years, I've realized that chasing implies speed, but its pace that break or makes the lifestyle you want to create intentionally.

Slow living can act as a framework to imagine rest as resistance. Rest, in a loud, over-stimulated human society is shaping up to be seen as a deviance. The deviation from being active, proactively connected to others links to the assumption that omnipresence dictates whether relationships will remain secure or fade away. Slow living gently challenges the beliefs around social presence, stating that slow living presently is about reconnecting with the rhythm of one's own pace, capacity and priorities to then be able to re-engage and reconnect with others.

Slow living relishes pauses and activities that feed the self, rather than commodifying it as an object alienated from community, personal history and the environment. Slow living inculcates and invites one to wonder with significant attunement, "What does belonging taste like?". The flavors of an interconnected self signify how life design can birth a way of living that nourishes, not depletes.

"What does belonging taste like?", Goa, India 2022 Image Credit - Durga Menon

Western capitalism commodified human beings as labor, severing effort from fruition of unfulfilled wishes for a lifestyle that caters to each one's individual need. The definition of success, ambition and capital loses it lust when these words enter the realm of slow living. Slow living suggests finding oneself by digesting and articulating what unmet needs can be satiated through capitalism, bearing in mind our capability to nourish ourselves through individual thought, reflective dialogue and attuning to our inner world.

As cited here, " Slow living is a mindset whereby you curate a more meaningful and conscious lifestyle that’s in line with what you value most in life.

It means doing everything at the right speed. Instead of striving to do things faster, the slow movement focuses on doing things better. Often, that means slowing down,  doing less, and prioritising spending the right amount of time on the things that matter most to you.

By slowing down and intentionally placing your true values at the heart of your lifestyle, a slow living mindset encourages you to live in self-awareness and make conscious, purposeful

decisions for the benefit of your well-being and that of the planet." (Slow Living LDN)

The premise of gestalt psychotherapy strongly suggests we are what we experience in the 'here and now', a core value that is linked to the tenets of slow living illustrated by intentionality, mindfulness and quality over quantity (as suggested by a brief summary on google when you search 'slow living'). Intentionality grounds our needs when we listen to them through a process-oriented lens. Meeting physical, mental and emotional needs through a quality over quantity stance allows us to strengthen our reflective capacity, unleashing the ability to resist the unidimensional view that human beings are only worthy if they are a productive member of human society.

The 'here and now' suggests freely associating with what comes up for us. Long enough practice of associative thinking will eventually develop, deepen and build curiosity around value-based reflection. Our choices can then be exercised towards designing a lifestyle that is removed from pace, advertising and outsourcing of one's own capability. We never needed to buy ourselves out through journaling, adult coloring books, advertised self-care routines or that one product that tantalizes us with the illusion of freedom at the click of a button. This is not to disregard the convenience of goods and services that serves as a backbone of capitalism Our choices often blur when intentionality leaves the room when we are advertised loudly, overriding our own intuition of what we need.

Satisfaction is redefined through slow living when intentions are linked to our values rooted in our personal way of living. We redeem agency, individuality and purpose through our purchasing power when we can listen within to our desires. Desire is presented as a dangling carrot in the capitalist economy, but desire can just be a carrot ready to be consumed when the appetite for it appears.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DURGA MENON offers online psychodynamic therapy and is an advocate for ecofriendly living.

To stay tuned, visit www.ecofriendlytherapist.com 

The title of this article was generated using AI prompts.

REFERENCES

What is slow living? Slow movement history, tips, resources, slow living LDN, https://slowlivingldn.com/what-is-slow-living/