What is the hurry?
August 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment
How speed = stress
In his latest book, In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed, Canadian journalist Carl Honore touts the benefits of slow living.
Honore claims that the old paradigm “time is money” is being replaced by the “slow movement” model. Slow living produces more pleasure and better health. The slow city movement is fostering personal connection over speed. He makes a good point about how holistic medicine is inherently slow. Apparently, Italians have even expanded the “slow movement” into sex.
As I mentioned before, slow work is producing higher production. Multi-tasking is not productive. From the workplace to the home, Honore claims slowness is growing.
Stress reduction needs to integrate slowness for our kids, too. In his book, Honore reports about kids lacking spark and passion because they’re being pushed with homework and extracurricular activities.
Fortunately, a lot of us are putting the brakes on our speed. We’re making conscious choices to have a richer, whole life by traveling through it slowly.
There are places where speed is good. Having faster Internet connections certainly increases production and reduces stress. The unconscious conditioning around speed that we created in our lives is not good, though. Being mindful of where speed serves us, and where slowing down serves us, will enrich our lives. As my mother used to say to me, “What’s the hurry?”
How Whole is Walmart?
June 30, 2008 | 1 Comment
A week ago, I was at the LOHAS, which stands for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability. It is a conference for the companies that sell to the whole and green market. One of the interesting panels lead by Simran Sethi was the one with Whole Foods and Walmart. Diane Hatz
Founder/Director of Sustainable Table wrote a great post on how the sustainable food movement is now going mainstream; the fun part of her post is her comment about Rand Waddoups from Walmart.
The green movement is becoming an institution. The whole movement has yet to be defined. Conferences such as LOHAS are beginning to address what is a whole company. As with the green movement, much of that answer will come from the consumer. You will determine what it is to be a whole business.
MAKING IDEAS WHOLE - The Power of Language
June 30, 2008 | 1 Comment
Make no mistake, the discussion of language – even in the context of mere promotion - is about how language works to maintain and change power relations. And a common thread in ad agencies and boardrooms today is the mainstreaming of GREEN – and how to craft a message that can tie them down.
From the perspective of language, this begs an important question: Are GREEN principles being adapted by a larger demographic, or is it the GREEN aesthetic that is being co-opted by the mainstream?
Historically, being Green has existed as a fringe marketplace. It has survived in part defining itself as NOT being in the mainstream - somehow counter-culture. In fact, when we look at the very word “Green” we can see that we have been labeled by the old mainstream using an outsider’s pejorative. “Greenies.” Today’s consumers don’t even identify with it personally. They may Go Green, but they are no Green, personally.
But, thanks in part to smart companies, blogs like this, a failed U.S. energy policy, a few well-timed storms, a rockstar “Almost President,” and the initiatives and campaigns of Fortune 50 companies scrambling to establish some green street credit - we’re suddenly not so fringe anymore.
Just like any fringe group that talks only to itself, Dr. Paul Ray’s - one of the first to identify the fringe segmentation - prompting of “Authenticity.” when communicating with the GREEN consumer is dead on. But consider this - if mainstreaming America is chasing an aesthetic framing – a brand experience – rather than principles, I argue that “authenticity” may mean very little in the very near future.
So, what happens when this authentic language of the fringe is borrowed by the mainstream?
Think in terms of modern America adopting military language - like BlockBuster, a popular video store and a bomb dropped during World War II. Today, the military couldn’t use that word and still maintain any credibility as a big, bad monster. It adapts its language.
Or, look at urban street slang co-opted by white suburbia. When the skinny white kid steals your language, you don’t want it back. It is no longer subversive if it’s common.
What happens is that the language creator – the fringe – must push it further.
A language war is being staged between GREEN and the Mainstream. When language or expression is stolen, the language will evolve to distance itself from the mainstream. Things move fast today and so does language and it will change faster and faster. It is this way that the fringe has power. Mainstream only ever moves because of the fringe. It shifts.
Helping Professionals Serve
June 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment
We created this category to assist all the professionals who serve us in living a whole life. These massage therapists, acupuncturists, organic farmers and others are often solo workers. They may not have a local or national network to support them in their business or life. The commitment to making a difference may be high, yet so can the stress of going it alone.
What do you need? How can we help you help others? How can we help you keep your passion strong?
The Whole Work Revolution
May 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment
We spend the most productive times of our lives working. But more of us are choosing to forgo more pay for more of a life. Work needs to support us, and it must be more than a way to make money – more than a place that is stressful. We deserve to work in buildings that are physically and spiritually non-toxic. We deserve acknowledgment that we have a life outside of work. We deserve work that serves our whole community. We deserve work that reflects our vision of a whole life.
Transforming our stressful work into a place of pleasure may seem impossible. With the help of our readers, we will help you get more than money from work. Looking forward to being at work is a pleasure we all strive for, we are here to help you.
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