Here we sit at the edge of summer in our little patch of paradise almost able to smell the sun-warmed earth, taste the harvest of plums and feel the tepid waters of local lakes wetting our toes.
After a year including unexpected stressors at a community level, we are even more drawn to the natural solace and healing of time outdoors. Finding ways to harmlessly connect with the life all around us is vitally important to our wellness, as well as Mother Nature’s.
Nature’s rhythm is slow. Perhaps this is why the slow food and slow fashion movements have caught our attention in recent years. The wisdom of slowness is that it often means better quality alongside a lighter footprint.
Slow food embraces meals that are homemade, include wholesome ingredients and support sustainable agricultural practices. Slow fashion pumps the brakes on the rapacious appetite of the textile industry – the second most polluting industry in the world – and instead respects industry workers and the limits of Earth’s resources.
Not only are we slowing down, we are minimizing our possessions, too. Realizing that less stuff often means less worries, many are paring down their belongings and carefully evaluating what new items they bring into their lives. Households are purging their excess by choosing to get rid of something old when bringing in anything new. Self-professed hoarders are emptying garages and freeing themselves of the burden of their attachments.
Another perhaps surprising movement is people opting for human-powered entertainment rather than toys dependent on gas and electricity. ATVs, motorboats and remote control cars have their appeal, but also their downsides.
Dependence on gas or charged batteries is just the beginning. Time and money needed to maintain these is another aspect.
The need for speed is perhaps more honestly understood as an addiction to sensation. When we slow down to a more natural pace, we might just find a wealth of insight into aspects of our lives and the natural world that we would otherwise miss.
Modern day marketing attempts to sell us stimulation rather than substance, but many are seeing through the shiny veneer, and gearing down to smell the roses. We are realizing that the toys we sometimes fill our lives with don’t actually fill us with the peace or lasting joy first advertised.
The technological age we find ourselves in is fast-paced, hungry for resources and can disconnect us from the planet. If you haven’t given yourself the gift of slow lately, maybe now is the perfect time to get tuned into the moment.
Make dinner entirely from garden greens or finds at the farmers’ market, send kids on a scavenger hunt along the beach, or take a canoe out on a starry night.
Exploring nature naturally slows down the tick of the clock and brings us into a harmony with our truest nature.
Let’s Talk Trash is qathet Regional District’s waste-reduction education program. For more information, email [email protected] or go to LetsTalkTrash.ca.
