Speaking the language of tomatoes, what is it that makes us hurry through life, makes us blind to everything that deserves our full attention? The main cause to environmental destruction and social despair is our ignorance, our inability to perceive the interrelatedness of everything, the non-independent nature of human beings and human artifacts. When we begin to learn the language of the kitchen garden, we commit ourselves to a lifelong journey, slowly following the winding path of love and compassion.

We may be disturbed by car pollution and airplane noise, but we do not usually question the infrastructure of mobility. No, we seldom question the drive for convenience and immediacy, for higher and higher speeds, for less and less friction. Commuting and long-distance travelling have become integrated aspects of our daily life, permeating our minds and value systems. Speed and mobility have long been terms with positive connotations, paving the way for projects of political and economic “improvements”. How should we otherwise understand the emergence of urban, interurban, regional, interregional, national and international infrastructure projects? What are we without cars, trains and airplanes?

Historical mistakes are not a good excuse for not doing anything today or tomorrow. So, what should we do? Why not begin by asking how we really want to live, how we really want to work, how we really want to use our common habitat. Let us imagine a world guided by slow mobility.

i am eden. i am 17 and have been completely drawn to the slow movement. i am the typical new yorker. i speed up and weave through the crowd as if they are traffic cones. i contently look at my watch and am always 5 minuets early for my next class. Carl’s book “In Praise of Slowness” is changing me for the better. So i just wanted to start off with; it is so comforting to know i am not alone.

-eden

I have finally found, after a full 12 + years of parenting - over 35 years of collective parenting if you add up all the ages - that if I want them to pause, I must pause first. You might be saying “Duh.” But for me it was a hard fought lesson learned.

So here’s my technique which is good in prevention and good in the moment too… Feet shoulder width apart pressed solidly down into the ground or floor - standing or sitting. Timer set for 1 minute. 60 measley seconds. Eyes closed. Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat until the timer rings.

It works wonders. It brings me down to a sane state. It pauses the chaos. It slows everything down physically, mentally and emotionally too. And it sends the kids the message more so than any technique I have tried before. And from that point we can either begin our conversation anew, or move onto something completely different. Our choice.

One minute that can change your whole world. And your family’s world too.

As a city planner, I am constantly thinking of the future of our urban environments. I consider the hopes and dreams of the people who live in cities, and then I think about how to plan (or design) these hopes and dreams into a reality. I’ve had many people tell me that they love the idea of a slow city. They would move there immediately, they tell me, if only such a place truly existed.

In fact, slow cities do exist, and they are even called ‘Slow Cities’ or ‘Citta Slow.’ The question is whether or not the official definition of a Slow City truly fulfills our own individual dreams of a slow city. Slow Cities are governed by rules, definitions, a charter and a philosophy. There is a reason that Slow Cities formed in the first place — a reason that is akin to Slow Food’s own existance. Initially, the ’slow’ of Slow Cities seems to exist on a policy level; a policy which borders on philosophy. To truly understand what a Slow City is, we must look at these policies and then translate them into tangible realities that will (or perhaps will not) convince us that slow cities exist in the way that we want them to exist.

Many of us long for cities that are different, that are slow. To understand Slow Cities is the first step before understanding what we are actually hoping for.  I invite you to follow this blog as we explain the policies and philosophies of Slow Cities, and work to understand where we live and where we want to live. Cities are complex, but they are not impossible. We can work towards making our cities the places in which we do want to live.

Or even better: let’s talk about Slow Sex.

On Friday, January 15th, I will be doing just that in a public lecture in San Francisco. The topic is all things Slow, with a special emphasis on sex.

If you’re in town, come along and join the conversation. Don’t be shy. There won’t be any nudity. At least not from me…

Click here for more details: http://tiny.cc/xZH3f

And click here to read my recent article about Slow Sex at the Huffington Post:  http://tiny.cc/oKG6E

The host provides basics like scissors, crayons and markers, construction paper, glue and staples, and decides whether to open up the creative possibilities by including hot glue guns and paint.

The process: Sit down at the table and make something out of the stuff. It could be an oatmeal container with glitter, two straws and sections of the comics taped to the side. No rules, except talk, eat, share supplies and techniques. Then take home your thingie. Or swap thingies. Toss thingie.

This made me unexplainably, wildly happy. I ran to the garage and pulled out an empty laundry soap holder.  I brought it into the studio and started covering the sides, using old wallpaper, stamped cardboard, scraps of old paintings I never liked, postcards, spiraled pipe cleaners, etc.

Breathless with the complete absence of the ‘inner snick’—I was in kindergarten again, smiling and singing away.  The humble nature of the materials freed me up. The only part missing was that thick paste with a paddle attached to the lid that smelled like wintergreen lifesavers.

My husband who didn’t read the article, saw my thingie and said, “Uh, honey, where are you going to sell that?”

I still have it. I invite you to make one. Feed the Beauty.

 If anyone knows where I can find the article mentioned above, please let me know.