life in the slow(er) lane

Today, in the Arizona Daily Star HOME section, there's an article entitled, "Try Life in the Slow Lane...and do it now." In the article, which focuses on how to design your living space in harmony with the "slow life" philosophy, they cite a website I just checked out and encourage you to do, also. It's http://createthegoodlife.org

From that site's January posting I found the following (the list below is from the book, The How of Happiness, promoted on their blog):
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In looking over the list, consider what you already do naturally, what you are interested in trying, and what seems most appealing.

1. Expressing gratitude
2. Cultivating optimism
3. Avoiding over-thinking and social comparisons
4. Practicing acts of kindness
5. Nurturing relationships
6. Developing strategies for coping
7. Learning to forgive
8. Doing more activities that truly engage you
9. Savoring life's joys
10. Committing to your goals
11. Practicing religion and spirituality
12. Taking care of your body
Designing your life for well being
We realize that our enthusiasm for The How of Happiness is because it echoes our own approach to the good life. We believe that with personal awareness and practice you can, over time, arrange the different areas of your life so that you primarily focus on living well and doing good. There is no single formula for doing this, but there are rules of thumb, processes, and people to inspire and guide you. Part of the joy is the creative act of figuring out what works best for you.
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Their suggestion, and it's a good one, is to take each of the 12 and use it as a focus for each month of the year. This suggestion connects with the book I just bought this week, The Power of Receiving, by Amanda Owen. I am half done reading it and her basic premise is that we can't experience happiness, success, etc. if we are not open to receiving it and she includes being grateful as a behavior that fosters receptiveness.

She suggests a daily record of 5 things for which to be grateful and that we identify one of the five and concentrate on the experience of that element for a least a full minute. I tried that last night (I experienced gratitude for the clear blue sky and sunshine as I walked along the Rillito) and so it's a new practice I will begin to incorporate into my daily/evening/bedside journal-writing.

It's not easy living a slower life. I sort of jumped into busyness when I returned from our family Philly trip, but a mid-week respiratory "bug" laid me back a few days and, while the cough lingers, I am resisting my impulse to move quickly. I do notice that, even when I move fast, it's not as quickly as I used to. Part of that is the aging process but I would like to think some of the moments of pause in my life is because I am trying to do life differently, experience it more slowly. In a previous book I was reading, From Panic to Power, the author suggests hitting the 10 second pause button when fear, worry, anxiety emerges.

So amidst all of this "navel gazing" as some might say, I am not unaware of the unheaval in Egypt and the ongoing process of healing in Tucson after 1/8--among other worldly challenges. One could go crazy trying to keep up with the turmoils across the globe---or across the street, for that matter. Just keeping a focus on what I can do is my biggest challenge this first month of 2011.

So I ask you, readers, to think about the 12 behaviors for the How of Happiness and consider if including these behaviors into your daily reflections might increase your positive life experiences.