How to slow down without standing still
For someone seen as a leader of the global slow movement, Carl Honoré is a ball of energy. Speaking at the South Bank Centre on 25 April 2009, the Canadian journalist and author of In Praise of Slow took the audience on a speed history of the Slow movement.
Looking unfatigued despite having just flown in from Canada, Honoré attacked the subject of “finding your inner tortoise” with a vigour not usually found off the squash court.
A paradox? Perhaps not. During his talk, Honoré argued that slowing down does not mean, as some critics believe, simply doing everything slower. There is “good slow” – which could be anything from getting enough sleep to cooking a decent meal. But there is also “bad slow” – for example, casually collecting your belongings while your house is on fire. Speed and slowness are both important. The trick, Honoré believes, is getting the balance right.
Unfortunately this is where we are going wrong. “Our solution to everything these days is making things faster,” he told the audience. “Not reading enough? We learn to speed read. Trouble finding love? We go speed dating.” In the United States there are even drive-through funerals, where you can pay your respects as quickly as ordering a burger.
These examples made everyone laugh, but they also point towards something serious. As Honoré explained throughout In Praise of Slow, the relentless pursuit of speed is having a damaging effect on our culture, our relationships, our environment and – ultimately – ourselves. When we are rushing through our lives, we don’t realise that we are accumulating damaging levels of stress and fatigue – particularly in big cities like London, which Honoré calls “particle accelerators”.
So it has been in response to this acceleration that the Slow movement – a term Honoré uses reluctantly – has sprung up in so many forms, such as slow food, slow cities, slow sex and slow work to name a few. Across the world people are finding ways to challenge the cult of speed that shapes many of our lives. “Slower can often mean more efficient, because you get things right first time,” he said. “If you are always in top gear, you make mistakes and cause chaos.”
In conversation with BBC journalist Rosie Goldsmith after his talk, Honoré said that the global meltdown was the perfect illustration of this. “The financial crisis shows you how catastrophic too much speed can be,” he said. “No one had the time to stop and think about where the financial system was headed, and now we are facing the biggest economic crisis in decades.”
So how can we start slowing down? One way is simply by doing less. We are always trying to cram more into our days, but this means we barely appreciate experiences as they go whizzing past. This rings true in London, where there is pressure to seek constant entertainment. Another way is to have some kind of slow ritual in your daily life, which could be anything – cooking, meditation, walking to work, spending time with friends.
“It’s about finding a way to apply the brakes,” said Honoré. “It helps you to find what the Italians call the tempo giusto – the right speed.” And with that, he calmly bounded off the stage.
Chris Cox
