Random post o' How To Improve Your Life:

Take A Deep Breath...And Join The Slow Movement

So by now you know that Arianna's first Huffington Post Book Club pick is Carl Honoré's In Praise of Slowness. First published in 2004, it's an engaging exploration of the Slow Movement, and it encourages readers to take some time instead of speeding and multi-tasking through one stressful project to the next. A journalist, Honoré offers a detailed report of the Slow Movement's role in every aspect of life, from food to sex to relationships to work. The idea of slowing down isn't new, either. Great thinkers and writers have been talking about how important it is to take time for yourself and for reflection for a long time.

Here are some quotes from the post:

"Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it." -- Soren Kierkegaard

"The time has come to challenge our obsession with doing everything more quickly." -- Carl Honoré

"Slow down, you move too fast." -- Simon and Garfunkel's 59th Street Bridge Song

"the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." -- Henry David Thoreau

"Death is nature's way of telling you to slow down." -- A.E. Newman

"I always lived under the mantra that the fast will beat the big ... but the slow will beat the fast." -- Geir Berthelsen, the founder of the World Institute of Slowness

"Fast isn't turning us into Masters of the Universe, It's turning us into Cheech and Chong." -- Carl Honoré

"In this media-drenched, data-rich, channel-surfing, computer-gaming age, we have lost the art of doing nothing, of shutting out the background noise and distractions, of slowing down and simply being alone with our thoughts." -- Carl Honoré

"There are three things I take slowly: slow food, slow burn and my slow husband." -- Heather Miller Podesta

"The pace of life feels morally dangerous to me."-- Richard Ford, novelist

"The first principle of all action is leisure." -- Aristotle

"To do two things at once is to do neither." -- Publilius Syrus

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life... and not when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." -- Henry David Thoreau

"Time is on my side." -- The Rolling Stones

ION, I don't know how Australians can tolerate such fascism....

Australian fans face booze limit

Australian police are gearing up for an annual crackdown on motor-racing fans - limiting race-goers to 24 cans of beer a day.

I love a good PB&J! Best kind has crunchy PB (Jif not icky Skippy) and four-berry preserves, preferably with lots of fruity bits in it. Oh, and the heartier the wheat bread, the better. I like some substance to my PB&J, in all elements.

I don't have time to slow down!

msbelle, any time on Sunday would be great!

I swear this didn't show up the first time, and I re-typed it...

Grr! Both my cable and Internet are out at home. Comcast reported outages in Oakland, but not specifically in my zone...yet. If they don't fix it as part of an outage, I have to wait till Thursday for someone to come and look at it. Baaaaah.

I eat PB&J for breakfast every morning. Easy, fast, can eat it at my computer, never have to think about it, gives me protein until lunch, and satisfies my PB craving. A few years ago I was being tested for food allergies and had to give up PB for 3 weeks... it was not fun for me. Thankfully it was only the 3 weeks.

In Praise of Slowness

According to Tara Brach (American Buddhist teacher/speaker), the Chinese characters for "busy" actually mean something like "heart-killing."

Where's your new apartment, Jesse?

Where's your new apartment, Jesse?

OMG in the Back Bay. It's too expensive, but really nice and in a great location -- right by the T, a big supermarket, and the library!

Sweet.