For the love of slow under the Italian sun

Where in the world is it legitimate to kiss a stranger, drink wine at lunch and ride on the water even during a lightning storm?

If you guessed Italy, you’re right.

If you have spent any time in Italy at all, you will know why it is the birthplace of the Slow movement. It’s not that Italians are, per se, turtle-like. In fact, they are quite efficient (even their trains are on time!). But what informs their unique power of slow is the way they embrace life itself.

“You want to stay all day? Okay! You want to leave, okay, too!” the resort manager exclaimed in June when we found ourselves not wanting to depart after having enjoyed a week of Italian sun. He ended up giving us a free night (and a bigger place at the week’s beginning). When we spent another two weeks there in August, we started to think maybe he was giving us the special treatment.

One day, he stopped by on his bike and smiled.

“I have an idea.”

I winked at him over my glass of Chianti and said, “I like your idea already.”

He told us of a friend who has a sailboat. He’d take us out for a four-hour sail around the harbor of Trieste, “if we felt like it.”

Boy did we ever! Despite the two-foot jelly fish that rolled around the harbor waters, we managed to get on and off the ten-meter sailboat without trouble. It was a perfect, windless day so the sailing part was definitely sloooow. We topped off the evening with a sunset dinner at a nearby restaurant whose salmon made me weep. It was that good!

The last day was a tad cloudy so I headed to Venice while the kids and my husband stayed at the resort for a final day of frolicking. There I learned the water taxis are as punctual as the trains. As we skippered along the ocean to the island of Lido where the Venice Film Festival is being held, I pretended to ignore the lightning flashing behind my new friend’s head. He distracted me with his recounting his latest film in which he plays a priest murderer. I couldn’t help but notice there was a priest sitting in the boat so I felt a blend of relief and fear that my actor friend may have had ideas!

The next day, we unwillingly left our beloved Italian resort on the island of Grado and returned to Germany. We couldn’t help but notice the different pace of life immediately.

It’s good to be home with Italian memories in our suitcase, waiting for the next time to unpack the joy of slow under the Adriatic sun.

The road less travelled

Image via Wikipedia

Benjamin Franklin meant well. He advised his tradesmen audience in the aptly worded „Advice to a Young Tradesman“  that time is money. In his day a person of trade, well, traded his time for the money he earned. In many cases today people think they still do that as well. But what they are really doing is spending a lot more time thinking about work than they are paid to do. Thanks in large part to technological advances, work has seeped into many aspects of our lives. So while we’re swinging our child on the swings, we’re solving that problem at work in our heads or on our cell phones. Many times you will see people ceaselessly thumbing their BlackBerries at coffee shops during ‘leisure time’. In today’s world, time is not money, my friend. Time is time and money is money.

In the world of slow, time does not equal money. Instead, time equals your existence.

The truth of the matter is ‘the time is money’ adage has gotten us into a lot more trouble than we realize. Because we live our lives based on the misleading premise that time is money, we attempt to do more in less time. We begin to confuse activity with productivity, as if the ‘doing’ will grant us ‘being’. Inadvertantly, we hop on the hamster wheel, running as fast as we can with a competitive mentality about the clock and what it supposedly represents.We have a negative relationship with time that gives us a sense of time starvation instead of abundance. Even our precious vacation time is not immune from the time-money equation.

According to expedia.com’s latest International Vacation Deprivation Survey conducted by Harris Interactive in April 2010, nearly one-third of the respondents admitted to engaging in work-related while on vacation. The trend seems to be increasing. In 2010 30% reported that they check work email or voicemail while vacationing as opposed to just 24% in 2009.

If you love what you do and you are not stressed by it, that’s one thing. But if you feel you can never disengage from your work to regenerate, chances are you need to entertain the idea of a lifestyle change. As this slide show proves, you needn’t worry about when you will ‘get there’. You’ve already arrived. And yes, time abundance can be yours.

Your body will tell you if you’re on the right track. Have you ever wondered why you feel so much better while on vacation? Not only is your stress level reduced, but you also tend to engage in more leisurely dining and longer sleep. Your body is a wonderful barometer for whether or not your pace of life is working for you. Inject some slow into your summer routine and see where it leads you. It might just take you off the beaten track. Take it from me, a recovering speedaholic. The road less traveled is a great place to be!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Raising Money During The Summer Slowdown (businessinsider.com)
• How To Take Vacation Time Without Feeling Guilty (businessinsider.com)
• Can You Have a 4-Hour Workweek? (lifescript.com)

Family Vacation

Air travel leaves me with a blend of thrill and fear. There’s something remarkably impossible about lifting people into the sky for a few hours, only to land safely on the other side of the world. When packing, I usually reach a point where I say “If I don’t have it by now, I don’t need it.” It’s a motto of mine I use for most every occasion that involves hunting and gathering.

The holidays is another time of year in which I engage in the “Done, not perfect” attitude. We can only get so much done, see so many people, wrap so many gifts.

Taking vacation to see family, like we are tomorrow, is no different. Everyone wants a bit of your time; it is a loving and joyous request that can sometimes pile up into a scheduling nightmare. We are challenged to learn to say ‘no’ with kindness, to set boundaries and to preserve the integrity of what vacation is all about ~ rest, relaxation and fun!

Take the power of slow wherever you go. I am reminded to do the same.

Vacation Deprivation

According to the annual Expedia.com Vacation Deprivation survey, we’re in trouble. We don’t have much time off, and we don’t even take the time off we have.

Studying the vacation habits of employed workers from the US, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, Expedia.com reveals that the French take the most time off (an average of 36 of their 38 vacation days) while US workers limp in last place with the number of days they have available: 13 (it is forecasted that they will take  only 10 of them in 2009). Juxtaposed to the Japanese, 7 of their 15 vacation days will be left on the table this year.

I’m in love with my work just like many people I know. But, like my family, I can leave it behind for a few days and still feel good about myself. After all, I am contributing to a higher rate of efficiency by filling the tank, greasing the engine, whetting the knife – you get my drift?

The survey goes on to report that 34% of employed US workers do not take all their vacation days in one year (this trend is rising – in 2008, it was 31%). Thirty-seven percent of employed US adults work more than 40 hours a week (need I mention France’s baseline 35-hour work week? Prime Minister Sarkozy has taken measures, however, to loosen the grip of the shorter work week to stimulate the economy.)

More work and less play makes Pièrre, well, less playful. And that goes for us working stiffs, too.

Are you vacation deprived? Do you yearn for the brightness a holiday can bring to your life? What are your plans this summer?

Power tools

Sunday is a day of rest like no other in Germany. A fairly traditional society, Germany observes more religious holidays than any other European country I know (with, perhaps, the exception of Spain). I live in Bavaria, which is the most conservative state in the nation. Hanging your wash on the Lord’s day is enough to get you expelled from the city walls. Or so I thought.

Last Sunday my husband and father-in-law attempted to finish the porch they had worked twelve hours to assemble the day before. Mind you, we were looking at not only a Sunday, but also a Monday holiday with great weather and a job to do. I grew increasingly concerned that we wouldn’t be able to get it done because of the no-noise law on Sundays and holidays.

My husband and father-in-law decided to bend the law a little and turn on the circular saw. Not once. Not twice. But three times. Now I would have turned a blind ear to the light knocking of the hammer. They were being really quiet. But when they whipped out the saw, I got nervous.

They’re gonna get us! I scowled and fretted about it for the rest of the day.

My in-laws suggested we apologize for the noise, which we did the next afternoon. Approaching whom I thought would be the most difficult neighbor to address, I gave her a kind smile, which she promptly returned. I apologized profusely for the noise and for breaking the day of rest. She sang my father-in-law’s praises, saying how helpful he had been while my husband and I were away for a week’s vacation. They had moved in to care for the kids, for the house, and, as it turns out, for the entire neighborhood.

“What’s a little noise? You had to do what you had to do. Take care now!” She grinned and gave a little wave.

I was stunned.

My father-in-law had quietly laid the groundwork, chatting it up with neighbors, sweeping up the debris in the common driveaway after a major storm knocked leaves everywhere, and spent time with each of them in some way. He made his presence known and spread positive energy.

And I realized all this time my worries were nowhere else but in my own mind. Kindness pays. Worrying does not.

That’s a power(ful) tool I’ll take with me on life’s journey.

Right on Time

“Oh no!” my friend’s email cyber-wailed. “I forgot your birthday…” Actually, she had not. She had remembered right on time.

I spent seven glorious days on a Spanish island with two of my favorite people in the world: my best friend and my husband (my other best friend). Completely offline, I wouldn’t have gotten my friend’s email any sooner. In fact, on my birthday itself I had a hard time capturing the moment. It was as if I tried to pay particular to that elusive something just beyond reason, tantamount to expression yet unutterable in itself. I decided the whole week would be my birthday. What’s in a day when it can be cherished in the hours or months or years you grant it?

My best friend and I have always been in synch (in fact, her birthday is two days after mine). Externally our lives look very different. She is a single professional with her own business just outside of Washington. I am a married work-from-home writer with two intensely challenging adorable kids. But we always seem to contact the other just in the moment we need it most.

There is something deeply pleasurable about living in the knowing that everything happens at the exact time it should. What would our lives be like if we were always ‘right on time’? Not in the clock-sense, but in the measurement of knowingness?

Pretty liberating, I’d say.

Can we just…not?

Yesterday was the pinnacle. We traversed the Greater Munich area, enjoying the scenery and commenting on how beautiful Germany is. But last evening, soaking our sore hams in the bleeding sunlight, we agreed we would make today a ‘transition day’, a day in which we upload and download our vacation photos, stare at our suitcases in disbelief (we are leaving for Ibiza tomorrow), and reminisce about what a great time we had together while it lasted.

Those days of ‘not’ are so important to process all that which has come before us. Admittedly, I welcome the slowdown. No trains to catch, no appointments to remember ~ just one foot in front of the other at a plodding pace. Tomorrow is another day (and the beginning of our vacation), and it will indeed come at the same speed as every day before it.

Vacating the premises

In a special Work-Life Balance section, CNN reported yesterday about vacation time in the United States.

Are you fearful to take time off because you think you might get axed?

Think again.

It has been proven that rested workers are more productive than those who work 16 hour days. The best thing to do is to communicate with your boss about quarterly goals. Ascertain how you might bring your own talent into the mix. Be clear about his or her expectations. Then exceed them.

That does not mean you have to pull all-nighters or weekend shifts. Be clear about your own limitations. Challenge yourself to apply your strengths, even if the job description does not require it. Always be your best. To do so, you have to unplug, take time off, and rest.

Contributing to the bottom line might mean splashing in the pool for a long weekend. Leisure time is as purposeful as work time.

Live it. Dream it. Be it. It is possible. Besides, you are only human and deserve a time-out.

In fact, everyone does.

Boredom births Beauty

Ask any kid who’s run out of ideas the second week into vacation, and you’ll see boredom written all over his face. My son took on the typical “I’m-not-leaving-your-office-until-I-am-no-longer-bored’ stance, thrusting his entire frame onto an empty office chair and wheeling around in circles.

“I’m bor-ed!” he chanted to the beating of his own chair whipping. I cast him my most purposeful ’I'm-not-your-cruise-director’ look, and he disappeared while exhaling the entire contents of his lungs.

Twenty minutes later he raced back into the room.

“I just wrote my very first song. Want to hear it?” and he proceeded to rap the most eloquent text a seven-year-old could possibly muster. Cocking his baseball cap just so, he beamed with pride. I took a step closer, then sniffed.

“Yup. It’s official. You’ve caught the writer’s bug. Welcome to my world!”

Boredom is the best for birthing beauty.

Create the opening

Mini-vacations are the best. You unplug for a few days and race back to your everyday life with a sense of renewal. You’re gone long enough to appreciate your work without being overwhelmed by it.

This past Easter weekend was one such weekend. The weather was amazingly warm and inviting. We spent hours upon hours outdoors, barbequed, drank great German beer, and soaked up the long-awaited sunshine.

Returning to work today, I was more productive in one afternoon than I had been all last week. People called to reconnect, reporters responded in a timely fashion, and it seemed we all benefited from a little time off.

 Create the opening, then walk through it.

The power of slow has once again proven its worth!