Slow Food
Slow Food? Is that when there’s a long line
at the drive through? Well, not quite, but it certainly has it’s
roots in our fast food / fast life mentality.
Slow Food is a type of food but it is also a social
movement, an attitude, and a lifestyle. It began as a protest in
1986 against a McDonald’s Restaurant in Rome by Carlo Petrini
and a group of supporting associates. Concerned about the social
and esthetic implications of the “golden arches” in
a historic part of Rome, they protested and finally convinced Mickey
Dee’s to eliminate the neon arches. From there, this collective
effort grew into a grass-roots movement that promoted taking the
time and making the effort to seek out local produce and cuisine.
Since then it has evolved into a social movement to encourage people
to take back control of the rhythms of their lives.
One of the basic tenants of Slow Food is that as the
pace of Western society has sped up in recent decades, many of us
have surrendered control of our lives to the clock and the system.
As a result, we find ourselves rushing about, multi-tasking as a
matter of habit, and feeling that we have no time to do the things
we truly enjoy. Indeed, many have actually lost touch with what
they enjoy. In the end, time is our most precious commodity and
too many of us waste it in a mindless, disconnected blur of activity.
The phenomenon of “Fast Food” is only one result of
this.
Slow Food promotes the concept that to truly enjoy
our lives, we must take the time to be fully engaged in all that
we do. If something is worth doing, it’s worth taking the
time to really experience it, and so it is important to chose your
activities and how you spend your time wisely. If you find yourself
thinking it would be nice to do this or that but feel that you “don’t
have the time,” then you may be failing to embrace life and
could be following a recipe for unhappiness and dissatisfaction.
It’s not so much a matter of slowing everything down in your
life, though many would benefit from that. It is a matter of stepping
off the treadmill and taking control. Choosing to multi-task at
breakneck speed now and then is fine, as long as you can and do
choose to slow down and smell the roses or, in this case, taste
the local cuisine.
I often suggest to coaching clients that they follow
a morning ritual before getting out of bed. They first do a personal
check-in by asking themselves how they feel. They then remind themselves
of their ultimate prize, what it is they seek in life, and then
think about what they can do that day to make it happen. Finally,
they ask themselves how they want that day to look and feel. By
incorporating the notion of taking the time to live well in the
last question, people often find that they make better choices in
how they spend their time and who they share it with.
Slow Food is now an international movement with over
60,000 members in 35 countries. If you wish further information,
check out their website at www.slowfood.com
Copyright © 2002 Phoenix Life-Coaching.
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