In Praise of Slowness

I've been thinking about Mindfulness and picked up a book from the library this week called "In Praise of Slowness" by Carl Honore (2004), which provides a thoughtful discussion about how our lives have speeded up, how we try to "save time" and are often "time-poor". I have attended several courses about Mindfulness while I have been recovering, which is all about attempting to remain in the present moment and not thinking about what is ahead or behind us; after all, the past is gone and the future we are imagining probably won't happen as we imagine it. This is a type of meditation which I have found useful to calm my mind a bit and stop certain thoughts going round in circles. 
After I first went back to work, I often found myself thinking "how am I going to get through today?".  The answer has been varied, but at first I found it absorbing to spend time in my tiny back garden after work, and to plant and nuture vegetable seeds.  I think it basically gave me something physical to do which was not too strenuous and did not require any detailed thinking, but was absorbing enough to reduce whirling thoughts about my illness. 

I have since expanded the gardening a little bit by volunteering at a small local patch of community garden, and through this met some very nice people and taken advantage of a few opportunities that would otherwise not have presented themselves; for example, a group of us were asked to go along to Hampton Court Flower Show to take part in a photo-shoot for a national newspaper.

I really appreciated and enjoyed the day, which enabled us to wander around the show gardens and talk to the designers and exhibitors before the Flower Show opened to the public.  I seem to have digressed a bit.  The point I was thinking about which I have found to be true is that in our world of "buy what you want when you want it" I have found infinitely more pleasure in watching my own peas and strawberries grow than just getting them from a shop and I really appreciate their smell and taste and all the more considering the hard work that goes into looking after them; fighting a battle against the British summer weather, either too hot or too wet, as well as pigeons, slugs, snails, mice etc.  In this way I have tried to slow down my thinking and as a bonus side-effect manage to produce a small amount of food for myself.   I don't think anyone has ever been as excited about a pea as I was when I saw my first pea pod ripening in that Spring a couple of years ago.  In a good vegetable year (not last year, unfortunately) I am able to have something on my plate almost every day that I have grown myself, it may be a few lettuce leaves, some mint or chives, a handful of blackcurrants or some lovely juicy strawberries or tomatoes.  I enjoy them one by one and really it has made a wonderful addition to my life.