Slow and happy

The other day I teased Jerome (at www.eurotrib.com) about being so productive and warned about “burnout”. I’m retired, but still don’t seem to have much time. I was up till 1am doing some Eurotrib and blog stuff on Saturday. Sunday morning I researched and wrote the diary entry “NYT has more ‘Sicko’ news”. After lunch I walked down to the Promenade des Anglais and sat in one of the beach cafes. Of course - having had a protestant ethic background - I had a couple of books with me.

But I couldn’t read - my brain needed a rest and it had enough sense to tell me that, being lucky enough to live here in Nice, I ought - let me rephrase that - it would be very pleasurable - to just sit and enjoy the experience a bit more, rather than continually being elsewhere in my mind.



It was just great to sit in the shade (my skin is a bit fair for this climate) and take in the blue sky and the sea. So I just spent a couple of hours like that - DOING nothing, but BEING there. I moved on to the Cours Saleya and the early evening was so nice I had another beer and do-nothing session in the now weaker sun.

Today I browsed some Washington Post articles and came across this:

Breaking Free of Suburbia's Stranglehold

Jennifer McNelley: No Tears

McNelley knew she needed to change her life. Why else would she be crying all the time?

"I just can't wait anymore," she said. "I need to take a leap of faith and say, 'Screw it all,' and do what I have to do."

When her church, CrossCurrent Ministries, did the "Death by Suburb" series this year, she recognized herself in it, knowing she, too, was slowly drowning in the "toxins" of the suburbs -- the quest for more, the perfectly scheduled diagrams of days.

Her pastor ... counseled his flock to slow down, schedule time to contemplate, put off their latest Circuit City purchase (he was avoiding buying a digital camera), even consider pulling the kids out of sports for a semester.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/02/AR2007060201025_4.html

Americans giving up sports?! Things must be serious. But then Jerome has been telling us that it is serious, yet bankers don’t act on what they know, but on what the rest of the herd is doing. But the bubble might burst:

““Middle-class families are caught between low income growth, a high debt burden, and rising interest rates - and for the moment, these ingredients are here to stay. The most recent third-quarter delinquency, default, and bankruptcy figures show that the dangers to middle-class economic security are not theoretical concepts. They are a harsh reality for a growing share of middle-class families.”

http://www.moneyweek.com/file/25137/the-truth-about-us-mortgage-default-rates.html

But some realise that the problem is in going along with the herd and that one’s life needn’t be consumed by working in order to buy more; one can take more pleasure in basic consumption in a responsible way:

The Slow Food Manifesto

The Slow Food international movement officially began when delegates from 15 countries endorsed this manifesto, written by founding member Folco Portinari, on November 9, 1989.

Our century, which began and has developed under the insignia of industrial civilization, first invented the machine and then took it as its life model.

We are enslaved by speed and have all succumbed to the same insidious virus: Fast Life, which disrupts our habits, pervades the privacy of our homes and forces us to eat Fast Foods.

To be worthy of the name, Homo Sapiens should rid himself of speed before it reduces him to a species in danger of extinction.

A firm defense of quiet material pleasure is the only way to oppose the universal folly of Fast Life.

May suitable doses of guaranteed sensual pleasure and slow, long-lasting enjoyment preserve us from the contagion of the multitude who mistake frenzy for efficiency.

Our defense should begin at the table with Slow Food.
Let us rediscover the flavors and savors of regional cooking and banish the degrading effects of Fast Food.

http://www.slowfood.com/about_us/eng/manifesto.lasso

Now there are slow cities:

Cittaslow, (literally Slow City in English) is a movement founded in Italy in October of 1999. The inspiration of Cittaslow was the Slow Food organization; Cittaslow's goals include improving quality of life in towns while resisting the homogenization and Americanization of cities, where standardized franchise stores dominate. Celebrating and supporting diversity of culture and the specialities of a town and its hinterland are core Cittaslow values.

Cittaslow is part of a cultural trend known as the Slow movement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cittaslow

However, don’t take the title too literally; enjoying a fast car, as in BBC's "Top Gear", could still be a form of “slow”:

Contrary to assumptions associated with the term "slow", advocates of the Slow movement stress activity, rather than passivity. The focus, therefore, is on being selective in our activity, and fully appreciating how we spend our time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_movement

So it’s OK for me to write this as quickly as I can (not very fast, I like the research bit) - there are replies to comments to reply to too.

The Slow Movement has led to some interesting reflections on the most profound questions.

Arise !

“I’m talking about how to get out of bed. Most of us manage to get out of bed, eventually. Employers expect as much.
…
In the seventeenth century, the philosopher René Descartes spent a lot of time mulling over the problem of whether he existed or not. He famously said, “I think therefore I am.” He thought he did exist. So he must have tackled the am-I-awake-or-not question.
If you are aware you are lying in bed, then the mind will eventually pose another profound question: “Should I get up?”

Great minds have thought deeply about this question. In 1650 Blaise Pascal turned away from his studies in mathematics to contemplate the “greatness and the misery of man.” He decided, ”Most of the evils of life arise from man’s being unable to sit still in a room.” It only follows then that lying in bed must be a virtue.

Marcel Proust stayed in bed for almost a decade due to real or imagined aliments. His bed became his workplace. You probably had to be ill in bed to read Marcel Proust’s one-and-a-quarter-million-word novel, In Search of Lost Time. But Proust was a genius because he knew how to slow down. He took seventeen pages to describe a man trying to get back to sleep in his bed.

http://www.slowdownnow.org/content/view/49/81/

But a documentary on French TV a few days ago brought out the really serious side of stress, caused by the kind of management techniques imported from the US; causing some employees to be unable to sleep and, in some cases, unable to go on living. From an earlier report in the Guardian - Money section:

Heading for a breakdown

French workers used to be envied, but after suicides at car-maker Renault, unions are blaming US-style methods for shattering the harmony. Kim Willsher reports from Paris

Saturday March 10, 2007 The Guardian

...
Now, the harsh world of globalisation, competition and sharp employment practice has hit France hard. For workers such as those at Renault's state-of-the-art design and development Technocentre, near Versailles, this new economic reality has come as a shock, both professionally and personally. It has also brought tragic consequences.

In January, 800 Renault employees joined a silent march in tribute to two colleagues who had committed suicide. Even as they snaked past the ultramodern plant, known as the Beehive for its honeycomb design, their heads bowed, another was reaching the end of his tether.

Just over a fortnight later a 38-year-old employee, whose wife and five-year-old son were on holiday, returned home from the Technocentre and took his own life. His was the third suicide at the centre in four months.

His widow told Le Parisien that her normally "poised and calm" husband was stressed by work. He was so exhausted he was beyond sleep, she says. "He suffered from enormous pressure bringing files home and waking in the middle of the night to work."

http://money.guardian.co.uk/workplacestress/story/0,,2030201,00.html

Happily ever after

But I don’t want to leave you with this depressing news - people are resisting, downsizing and going SLOW - they want to live more happily.

Scientists have finally got round to studying that very important thing - happiness - and the BBC has made a series about it:

“… it’s thought that we tend to see our life as judged against other people.

We compare our lot against others [that herd thing again]. Richer people do get happier when they compare themselves against poorer people, but poorer people are less happy if they compare up.

The good news is that we can choose how much and who we compare ourselves with and about what, and researchers suggest we adapt less quickly to more meaningful things such as friendship and life goals.

What makes us happy?

According to psychologist Professor Ed Diener there is no one key to happiness but a set of ingredients that are vital.

First, family and friends are crucial - the wider and deeper the relationships with those around you the better.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/happiness_formula/4783836.stm

So I look forward - even more - to meeting some of the Eurotrib crowd in Paris. But let’s take it - slowly - it used to be the French way.