Genre: Self Help
Rating: 5/5 Stars
“Simple living is not a new concept–people have been practicing it for centuries–and the term “slow living” as we know it today is becoming increasingly popular. Used to describe a lifestyle that encourages a slower rhythm and values a mindful approach, slow living isn’t about doing everything slowly. It is about intentionally doing things and being present for each part of our day. By choosing quality over quantity, we gain more opportunity to savor the simple pleasures and experience those moments wholeheartedly.
Review
The idea of this book fascinates me. There are lots of authors out there that promote minimalism and simple living like Marie Kondo, however the style and topics they tackle are of a different genre. The Slow Living approach by Melanie Barnes is a topic that always delights me. The fact her book continues to retain my attention until the end of the book is very stunning.
The book elaborates 10 topics related to Slow Living. A list of the topics that are in the book:
1. Slow Living: An Introduction
2. The Challenges of our Modern Age
3. Time4. Learning to Nurture Ourselves
5. Well-Being: Body
6. A Slow Home
7. Seasonal Living
8. Sustainability
9. Well-Being: Mind and Soul
10. Daily Slow-Living Rituals
In general, the main idea of the book is how to live in a minimalist way. It talks about living in the moment, old times when people enjoyed manual labor, manually washing clothes, manually washing dishes, and cooking dishes from scratch. In addition, it goes on to discuss how the ever growing technologies made and continue to make a significant impact on human lives, and how it made them lazy & careless. Although there are various advantages to the new & emerging technologies, but in my opinion it has made us too much dependent and we no longer feel the joy of doing things manually.
The advancement we have distract us a lot, and almost everyone is entangled with the idea of “fast” since that is what technology has to offer; Fast food, automatic washing machines, intelligent dish washers, vacuum cleaners, automatic cars, and everything that makes man dependent and reliant. The book emphasizes on the things that feed our mind into executing things fast thus not enjoying the activities of manual labor.
Additionally, it also tries to address the issue of living in the moment. During the time of our great great grandparents, things seemed slow, and they seemed to enjoyed their time. They appreciated simple things, spent time with their children, and most especially a majority of them lived a very contended life. What we can really learn from them is certainly patience. Everything they did seems to be incorporated with patience, from the simplest to the most complex tasks. Furthermore, the impatience of the people living in the Millennial has eradicated the essence of being patient. Rushing of things not only adds a lot of pressure on the individual, but tends to end up as rework as well consuming more time than necessary.
The book also talks about not running after success, being a mindful consumer and just making the best of the moments. According to the book slow living means we need to apply the Kon Marie approach wherein we only keep things that are necessary and that sparks joy. Whenever shopping, we need to think about it’s longevity, purpose, sustainability and also its effect on the environment.
Additionally, meditation is the essence of slow living and the book has touched upon this too. It describes how meditations helps us calm our spirits and how it can declutter our mind. Since a decluttered mind is crucial in attaining a slow living lifestyle that many of us want to seek.
Thoughts Lane
A light, tasteful, heartwarming and worth pondering over book. An excellent read that will send you to depths of realization and betterment. Slow living is a guide to becoming a mindful consumer, an environment concerned citizen, and a simple yet fulfilling lifestyle.
Melanie’s writing mood in this book is like a sister-loving individual that teaches her siblings on how to live happily and slowly. After all I feel her words touching and penetrating. It’s identically listening to a life motivating lecture wherein all you hear is meant to be absorbed. Not to mention it gives one the ingredients one needs to live a fulfilling life. For this reason, I think this is one of those books that I will definitely remember for a long period of time.
What I like about the book:
- The cover compelled me to request this book. It is a very attractive cover.
- The book lives very well unto its description.
- It is easy to understand, and a light read.
- Difficult to miss and easy to remember main points.
- Short and Concise.
What I dislike about the book:
- Reading experience would be a lot better if the publisher provided a kindle formatted file.
I loved this book and overall it is a very good one. I highly recommended it.
If one likes a short, concise and a light read, then one definitely needs to read this.Thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC copy of the book.
