Connecting to a slow living community

I am a member of the Slow Living community through this Moodling Substack!

This is Debs from Take a Moodle with Me. I write about moodling (yes, it’s a thing!) and finding small pockets of time in your everyday life to connect or reconnect with yourself.

I’m excited to discover a sizable community here on Substack who are writing and/or interested in Slow Living¹. Suddenly, I feel that my writing with my Moodling Substack has a home - I am a member of that community, and 100% happy to be part of it. Maybe I’m even one of the weirdos that Brooke McAlary mentions on her About Page: "When I first discovered slow living, I spent years feeling like the only weirdo in the room. No-one else around me seemed to want to slow down. But now I know… there’s lots of us weirdos around!"

Subconsciously, this ‘knowledge’ that I am a member of this community has been percolating over a few weeks, as I've been reading more and more articles connected to this idea². When Brooke McAlary shared my piece about slow creativity in her list of Slow Living Resources, I knew I was really part of it!

A few seconds ago, I finished reading Zan Tafakaris' (@ZANTAFAKARI) piece on rituals and doing tech slowly (on Insight Axis), and found myself saying a very emphatic "Yes!" to this quote: "Why should bringing a sense of 'aliveness' to anything be effortful?"

This brought to mind something that is discordant for me. The moment I sit at my desk and work computer, doing things slowly disappears, and the illusion of multitasking productivity kicks in (there is no such thing!). My belly clenches, and I feel rushed and unsettled - and that is how the day continues.

• When did I last focus on just one task at a time?

• When did I slow down and immerse my whole being in an engaging work task?

• When did any work-related task feel alive?

Yeah, good questions. It seems that not everything in my life aligns with Slow Living principles. And, I think it will take time to integrate it into all aspects of life.

Is it just me, or does this happen to you too, perhaps in the same or another part of your life?

Compartments

Habits can feel like dark prisons where the light of intentional awareness never shines

Regardless of how fast it happens, for me, the foundation of making it happen is about shining the light of "intentional awareness" onto all parts of life. This rests on two ongoing practices:

1. being aware - of how I want to live my life, and how I actually live my life

2. being intentional - having the intention to take a holistic view of slow living

It’s so easy to compartmentalise parts of our lives (work, social, eating, finances, etc) and to get into the habit of keeping them that way. Habits feel like comfort zones. But they can also be dark prisons where the light of intentional awareness never shines.

Sometimes it’s good to throw all these really well-established habits up into the air to re-assess and re-arrange - see what works and what doesn't for the way I want to live my life now. I say this as my life is about to change again as a 2-year, full-time work contract comes to an end. I've decided to take a leap of faith and take time to build an income from multiple sources rather than "one full-time job". I've learnt to my detriment, that although a full-time job gives me security and pays the bills, it sucks my energy dry and leaves me with nothing left to live my life.

I cannot live an intentional life if I am not aware.

Years ago, I quoted Jonathan Fields³ (from The Good Life Project) saying “Without awareness, there can be no intention. Without intention, you lose the ability to choose what matters and refuse what does not.”

This leap of faith is the perfect opportunity to shine the light of intentional awareness onto this part of my life - to chuck it all up in the air and see what lands. I have no idea how this will look, but I do know that I want to bring a sense of "aliveness" to whatever I decide to do. As you may guess, there will be loads more to say on this subject, as the months pass!

And so it begins!

The card art

© Deb.Aura.Art 2023

Card number 43 is a jubilant collage of leafy / petal shapes on a watercolour background - as simple as that!

If you’re wondering what to look at next, have a moodle around these:

• Like, comment on or share this post (or all three!)

• Introduce yourself and your favourite way to moodle in this thread

• Read some of my micro-fiction (mostly 100-word stories, including collabs with other Substackers)

• Visit my profile to see my Notes, who I subscribe to and recommend

• Find a list of all the art cards I’ve written about so far

1. There are many definitions of Slow Living (and different names for it too!), but I prefer those that take a more holistic approach like this one from Wikipedia: “The slow living movement also focuses on the idea that a fast-paced way of living is chaotic, whereas a slower pace encourages enjoyment of life, a deeper appreciation of sensory experiences, and the ability to 'live in the present moment'".

2. Here are just a few writers that write about Slow Living (directly or indirectly) that I read regularly: Tiny Tortoise by Brooke McAlary; Haver and Sparrow by Charlene Storey; Creatively Conscious by Claire Venus; Salted by Luisa Skinner; Cricklewood Nature Journalling by Susannah Fisher; A Hill and I by Susie Mawhinney

3. The Unbusy Manifesto by Jonathan Fields (of The Good Life Project) is well worth a read / listen to if you feel that you are reacting to life rather than living it intentionally. If you feel you are being dragged through life (as he puts it), then make a choice to give yourself some 'me time', grab a cuppa and have a read. It'll only take 10 minutes. I did and it resonated 100% with my experiences.