Slow Cows, Slow Art, Slow Christmas

With all the rushing around that tends to fill our days - especially at the holiday season - it's sometimes nice to be reminded to slow down a bit. I can't testify to the benefits of the Slow Cow drink, but it sure did catch my attention. [via Springwise]

I know we tend to hurry a lot, but I was still surprised to read that, according to The Smithsonian American Art Museum, "the average person pauses less than 8 seconds to take in a work of art."

But now there's a Slow Art movement. The Slow Art Facebook page explains:

Slow Art is a simple concept: visit a museum. Look slowly at a few pieces of art - i.e. for 10 minutes or longer. Have lunch to talk about it. Do it the same day as thousands of others around the world.

If you're interested, mark April 17, 2010 on your calendar. (The Smithsonian had a Slow Art event in October 2009.)

And in another attempt to slow us down, Porter McConnell is advocating something she's calling Slow Christmas. As she says:

The world is a fast place, filled with stuff, so I guess it makes sense that Christmas would reflect that. The trouble is, we’re all a little broke from living this way, and the planet is groaning from last year’s stocking stuffers. So what if this year, instead of spending time at the mall buying family and friends stuff they may not even like, we spend time with those people instead?

Let’s slow Christmas down. Take a walk with hot cider and take in all the lit up storefronts and decorations. Make Christmas cookies from scratch, go sledding, go to a church with a good choir and sit in the back and bask in the goodwill and beautiful music.

There's lots more on her web site; you might want to take a look.

Related Posts:
Suggestion: Slow Down Sometimes
What I'm Reading: In Praise of Slowness