Why am I stress-free? From slow food to slow reading to just being slow!!!

Way back, when I had hair on my head, and when it was black, and when my beard had nothing but a few strands of grey, there were quite a bit of discussions on the Slow Food movement.  Ok, quite a bit is an exaggeration because nobody in the real world that I interacted with had any freaking notion of the movement itself.  As with most other ideas, the skeptic that I am, I did not become any fanatical follower; even though I love creating tasty food in the kitchen, I don't always start at step one.

There is a lot to be said about slowing down.  Whether it is on the road, or in the kitchen, or even on the bike path, a slower and an observing approach that leads to introspection is a life that is immensely richer than rushing through life when the destination is all the same for the every single one of us.  But then,of course, this atheist also knows that there is nothing beyond that ultimate destination, which means, well, go ahead and live a life that suits you well--as long as you don't bug me about it ;)

For most of us, one of the pleasures in life, especially back when we were kids came from reading.  Reading for pleasure.  Reading for entertainment.  And serious reading too.  But, in the age of rushing around, even uninterrupted reading has become as rare as people cooking at home.  Ok, I am exaggerating, again, but, hey, what's life if we don't exaggerate!  Those who love fishing tell tall tales about their catch.  We men exaggerate about the size of the very thing that dangles freely from our bodies.  And women exaggerate about, well, every damn thing! ;)

But, seriously, how we read--and, therefore, think--is changing and changing rapidly.  How often do you read completely immersed in the content like how you used to as a young teenager?  Right?  It won't surprise you, therefore, to know that a few want to slow down in order to read slowly. Like the Slow Food movement with food.

Slow reading advocates seek a return to the focused reading habits of years gone by, before Google, smartphones and social media started fracturing our time and attention spans. Many of its advocates say they embraced the concept after realizing they couldn't make it through a book anymore.

The set of words at the end of that quote is the key issue: "after realizing they couldn't make it through a book anymore."  We are so distracted that we have pretty much lost the ability to make it through a book.  Heck, even making it through an article in the New Yorker.

Hey, you are still reading this?  Good for you.  Quite an achievement; congratulate yourself! ;)

You can, therefore, imagine the frustrations of a typical student in my classes, or in other classes too where students have to read a lot.  To read without distractions so that they can think about the issues.  To read and think so that they can then put together convincing arguments.

Did you read about the benefits of slow reading?  From my own life, I can attest to every one of those--except "enriches vocabulary."  Big and fancy words stump me for I am no sesquipedalian ;)

So, here is a weekend assignment for you.  Shut off the phone, computer, television, radio, and everything else that could interrupt you.  Pick up something you had always wanted to read, or would enjoy reading.   Head to your favorite spot at home.  Read uninterrupted for at least thirty minutes.

There is always a chance that you will begin to like that so much that you won't come back to this blog ever.  That is a risk I will gladly take.  Because, I know that you are one damn lazy reader who won't shut the devices off for even thirty minutes and read a damn book.  See you are still reading this, aren't you? ;)