Slow Living Lessons

Things have been really hopping around here lately.  Recent days have been filled with traveling, meetings, errands, phone calls, arranging, posting, ordering–all the things that go with starting a business, especially as we prepare for our first big event.

Here’s the conundrum–we are supposedly “sowing seeds of slow living.”  The irony is not lost on us as we dart about from one thing to another. Yet as we move further along our path bringing Lady Farmer into the world, we are increasingly clear on this–we want  first and foremost to be authentic to who and what we say we are. That’s why we’re taking this out and showing it to you, mulling it around, inviting you in on our exploration because that’s how paradigm shifts happen.

So in the interest of full transparency, we’d have to say that “slow living” has been more in theory than in practice recently. In “sowing seeds” you have to prepare the space and the soil, gather your supplies and engage in the actual planting. It takes thought, planning, time, action and energy. We try to avoid being overwhelmed by keeping our actions purposeful and our goals in mind.

There is also this realization, that living is really only a string of present moments, a series of one “now” after another. This means that every minute holds its own “slow living” potential. If the day feels hectic and out of control, there is always the opportunity to stop and take a deep breath, to lift our eyes up to the sky for a glimpse out of our own stuff and into the infinite, to notice something lovely, to smile at someone in passing, to laugh at anything at all or to laugh at nothing, to feel delight in our children, our animals, friends, family, music, a warm fire, a cup of tea…It’s an infinite list of things that are a part of everyday life anyway, none of which take any real “time” at all. All we need to transform our lives–right now–is awareness.

I attended the Future Harvest Conference this weekend and was enormously inspired by all of the ideas and information concerning our food, our soil, and the relationship we as human beings have with the planet. I have pages and pages of notes and book suggestions. But there is this one thought that has stayed fresh in my mind in the days since. It has to do a lot with slow food, slow fashion and all of the things Lady Farmer is about. It’s a question to ask as we position ourselves towards our goals.

Think of the quality of life you desire. What does it look like and feel like? Whatever we do (or imagine, or picture) right now–today–that gives us that feeling will take us closer to it.  And whenever we do that we are, in fact, already there.

Sowing seeds of slow living–one moment at a time.

– Mary