Category Archives: People

How can you get your family on board with a slower life? How do we engage with our community and make a difference in the world? How can we better spend our time with family and friends? And why does it matter?

Looking towards a ‘new normal’

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“We could realise that what we thought was success, was just excess.”

As we begin to see some countries (like Australia) relax their pandemic restrictions and allow the general public back into society at varying levels, naturally our attention turns to what that new version of daily life might look like.

In this host-only chat, Ben and I discuss what we hope the ‘new normal’ might entail, whether we should simply be re-entering or re-booting society, and what each of us can do now in order to set that in motion. 

We also look at how Australia’s government is talking up a “snap back” to pre-virus ways of doing things, and how that seems to mean a re-entry to the old way of doing things and a return to old problems. Ben poses the question of what would happen if we instead rebooted back into society: rebooting the way we managed our finance, our view on the environment and even our values?

We have a juicy chat about what this means to us and our values, why we’ll spend the next couple of months reframing what success looks like and why we’re taking heart even amidst the pain and uncertainty. 

I also wanted to provide some journal/conversation prompts to help you question what our new normal might look like.

  • Picture a brighter, better future post-Covid
    • What does it look like?
    • How do I feel when I imagine it?
    • What excites me about it?
    • What about it feels aligned with my values?
    • Let this vision settle in to my heart, let it permeate the discomfort and uncertainty. Believe that it’s possible.
  • What specific experiences during isolation have I found positive?
    • What did they offer me that I want more of?
    • How can I make space for more of them post-lockdown?
  • What about ‘normal life’ am I not looking forward to?
    • What of those things are in my control?
    • How can I minimise them in my life?
  • Have my priorities changed as a result of lockdown?
    • What were they pre-Covid?
    • What are they now?
  • Has my idea of success changed as a result of the pandemic?
    • What was it pre-Covid?
    • What is it now?
  • Are there things in my life (worries, expectations, goals etc) that I can simply let go of in this new normal?
    • What are they?
    • How do I feel when I think about simply letting them go?
  • What’s one thing I can do today that will bring this vision closer?

I found this a really challenging, hopeful, cathartic conversation to have, and it really stirred a curiosity in me. If we could envision a better, post-Covid world, what would it look like?

Head over to iTunes to subscribe to the show and play the episode.

Or you can listen to the show directly, simply by hitting the Play button above. Enjoy!

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Things to Check Out After Today’s Episode:

As always, thank you for listening.

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Understanding your stress response and how to balance it out with Ellen Carr

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“[I realised] there is empowerment in discovering your Dosha and understanding your stress responses.”

Undoubtedly we are living in times of heightened stress. Uncertainty, fear, anxiety, living in close quarters, loneliness – they’re all stressful experiences and in some way or another, we’re all grappling with them as we live through the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Today’s guest, Ellen Carr, is a holistic coach and yoga teacher who believes that Ayurveda – the ancient sister science of yoga – offers us a way to learn how to identify our stress responses, and importantly, how we can begin to balance them out. 

Just a quick note: Before you dive in to today’s episode you might want to take a moment to take Ellen’s ‘Dosha Type’ quiz, which you can find over here. (This will all make more sense once you listen to the poggie, but for reference, I’m tri-doshic and Ben is pretty much a 50/50 split between Pitta and Kapha).

During the episode Ellen and I talk about Ayurveda, how it can help us live a more well-rounded life and why it’s so important to identify our stress responses, particularly in a time of high stress. We also discuss:

  • What is a ‘dosha’ type and why is it an important part of Ayurveda?
  • How to discover your dosha
  • What happens if you’re split across two or even three dosha types 
  • Some practical actions that will help calm your nervous system, no matter what your dosha 
  • What are some of the more common stress responses? 
  • How do we identify our stress responses and work to balance them out? 
  • Why naming it can help in alleviating some of the stress we’re currently living with

It’s a really fascinating conversation on a topic I’ve never really explored before, always putting it in the ‘Intimidating’ basket, assuming I would never really understand it.

What I’ve discovered however is not intimidation but a real curiosity about Ayurveda, and particularly how seemingly simple changes to our day-to-day life can be so powerful in offering us peace and balance and understanding.

If you’re at all interested and curious about managing your stress during this time, I think you’ll take a lot away from my chat with Ellen. And if you want to dig a little deeper, take the test to better understand your mind, body and spirit, and see what you discover about yourself.

Enjoy! 

Head over to iTunes to subscribe to the show and play the episode.

Or you can listen to the show directly, simply by hitting the Play button above. Enjoy!

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Things to Check Out After Today’s Episode:

As always, thank you for listening.

Love Slow? Support the show!

How to make remote learning work for your family with Sarah Durack

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“In the current environment getting kids offline and in the outdoors learning should be a priority.”

Sarah Durack

Remote learning is one of the biggest changes many of us are facing as lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders continue, and after lots of conversations with other parents I know Ben and I aren’t alone in finding the transition challenging.

So when I received an email from today’s guest offering her time and expertise to speak about exactly this topic, I jumped at the chance. After all, this season of the podcast is all about bringing you good, relevant, and above all, helpful conversations as often as I can. Hopefully today’s episode fits the bill on all counts – particularly for any parents or guardians struggling with remote learning.

Today’s guest is Sarah Durack, is a high-school science teacher from an independent school in Sydney, who also has a background in tutoring. Sarah’s school has been using remote learning for a number of weeks and brings with her a whole heap of incredibly helpful, practical tips on how we can make this learning-from-home experience a little less stressful for everyone.

The tips and suggestions Sarah offers apply to kids of all ages, but I also know there are a lot of parents of older high school students who have specific concerns about their kids’ schooling. Considering my kids are still in primary school I wanted to dig in to some of the ways parents can support their older kids at the moment so Sarah and I delve in to that at the beginning of the episode. 

Sarah also offers some advice on how to best advocate for your kids if they are struggling under the current learning conditions, as well as how to make some of the learning (which for many students is almost 100% digital and online at the moment) more analogue.

Lastly, I wanted to find out how local communities can come together and offer help and show support to teachers during this tough time, and Sarah has some really lovely practical ideas to share.

Head over to iTunes to subscribe to the show and play the episode.

Or you can listen to the show directly, simply by hitting the Play button above. Enjoy!

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Things to Check Out After Today’s Episode:

As always, thank you for listening.

Love Slow? Support the show!

Permaculture in a crisis with Robyn Rosenfeldt

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“Learn one new skill, something that will help you not be so reliant on the system.”

Robyn Rosenfeldt

It’s been a helluva a start to the year for all of us, and for many Australians, we’ve found ourselves living through the double-whammy of the devastating summer bushfire season, followed closely by the global Covid-19 pandemic.

It’s been interesting to see so many people using this time of upheaval to start thinking about community and its role in helping us navigate times of crisis, and today’s guest has so much to share on exactly that topic. Robyn Rosenfeldt is a permaculture expert, the editor and creator of Pip Magazine, and an all-round, stand-out friend of the show, and in today’s episode we have a fantastic conversation centred on the importance of coming together in difficult times.

Robyn talks about the devastation of the summer bushfires and how that crisis highlighted the issue of food security in her community, before sharing the similar impact the Covid-19 crisis is now having on local supermarket shelves. She also introduces us to the three pillars of permaculture – earth care, people care and a fair share – and speaks about what they each look like in daily life, and how everyone of us can harness them to create stronger communities – not only now, but also as we move forward in to whatever the ‘new normal’ will be.

We also have a chat about a topic I know many of you are curious about: how to live a values-aligned life while also raising independent-minded children. This includes Robyn’s thoughts on how to best pick your battles and why compromise is an important tool for everyone to have in their toolbox (a lesson I’m learning with increasing frequency as our kids get older!)

Finally Robyn and I talk about the rising instances of eco-anxiety in both adults and kids alike, and how we can move through it with grace and humanity in tact.

It’s a really wonderful chat that I’ve found myself referring back to a lot over the past few weeks and I hope you enjoy it!

Head over to iTunes to subscribe to the show and play the episode.

Or you can listen to the show directly, simply by hitting the Play button above. Enjoy!

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Things to Check Out After Today’s Episode:

As always, thank you for listening.

Love Slow? Support the show!

Working from home tips with Louise Miller: Life in the Time of Covid-19

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“The brain in a positive state is 31% more productive than a brain in a stressed, neutral or negative state.”

Season 6 coming in hot! (I told you it wouldn’t be long before we were back in your ears). After some feedback and lots of questions about slow living in the time of Covid-19, Ben and I decided to bring the new season forward.

The way we see it, there are so many ways slow living can help as we all adjust to the weirdness of isolation and we want to be able to share them with you now, when they’re most relevant. In a nutshell, this season will be less about the pandemic itself and more about how we can use slow living to live well in these strange times. So if it’s health advice or epidemiology you’re after, this probably isn’t the podcast for you. If, however, you want to know how to find pockets of slow amidst the noise, you’re in the right place.

Which brings me to today’s wonderful guest, Louise Miller, a productivity coach who doesn’t believe in productivity for productivity’s sake (she’s speaking my language already).

We have a wonderful chat about the ins and outs of working from home, and Louise shares lots of super-practical tools and strategies for those of you who might be very new to the remote working scene.  

Louise also shares her insights on: 

  • The importance of grace and compassion right now as we all navigate this new reality
  • Why creating ‘Ta Da’ lists instead of ‘To Do’ lists is one powerful way of finding satisfaction in our work efforts – particularly on those days where we feel we’re not doing enough
  • Why the loss of your commute might be affecting you more than you think 
  • How installing a buffer in to your daily rhythm can help create that all-important grace and compassion amidst the stress and worry
  • Why ‘slow productivity’ gets such a bad rap and why she’s such a big fan of it anyway

Enjoy!

Head over to iTunes to subscribe to the show and play the episode.

Or you can listen to the show directly, simply by hitting the Play button above. Enjoy!

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Things to Check Out After Today’s Episode:

As always, thank you for listening.

Love Slow? Support the show!

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