Thursday, January 11, 2007

The One Minute Bedtime Story

One_Minute Bedtime Stories
"It is a Western disease to make time finite, and then to impose speed on all aspects of life".

- Satish Kumar, Jain monk and editor/author of two of my favourite pieces of literature: Resurgence Magazine and his book, You Are, Therefore I Am: A Declaration of Dependence.

Emma and I both suffer from time-sickness. We're constantly worried about what we're doing right now and what else we should be doing instead. A friend suggested reading Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. After reading the first few pages, I'm sure that'll help to regain the enjoyment of every experience... I just haven't found the time to read it yet. One book I am reading is In Praise of Slow: How a Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed by Carl Honore.

I'm sure he won't mind me quoting his response to the likes of the "One Minute Bedtime Stories" phenomenon:

"My First reflex is to shout Eureka! At the time, I am locked in nightly tug-of-war with my two-year-old son, who favours long stories read at a gentle, meandering pace. Every evening, though, I steer him towardsthe shortest books and read them quickly...

...Part of me feels horribly selfish when I accelerate the bedtime ritual, but another part simply cannot resist the itch to hurry on to the next thing on my agnda - supper, emails, reading bills, more work, the news bulletin. Taking a long languid stroll through the world of Dr. Seuss is not an option. It is too slow."

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