In many parts of the world, the month of August is a time to slow down. It's a chance to enjoy the good weather and get a little rest in before the school year starts again. However, around here (Philadelphia for me, but I hear from friends that it's the same all around the country) things seem to be speeding up, instead of becoming more relaxing. Work is getting more demanding, new projects arrive that needed to be done yesterday, traffic snarls intensify and you find yourself racing from thing to another, without time to do more than bolt a sandwich that you could hardly taste.
While you can't control the speed of your life in some respects, you can try to quit scarfing your food. Zen Habits recently put up a post extolling the virtues of eating more slowly. They say that slowing down your meal can lead to weight loss, better digestion and less stress, as well as a greater sense of satisfaction with the food you consumed. Slowing down doesn't mean you have devote three hours to a meal. All it takes is 20 minutes in which you put aside the computer (I eat at my computer more often than I like to admit), the television and the Blackberry and eat consciously. You can read the full list, with elaborations and explanations here.
photo by Marisa McClellan
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