Spoiler alert: There's no bathing involved. However, clothing is optional. Happy Earth Day 2018! I figured today of all days it would be fun to focus on something natural. I recently wrote about the benefits of the astronaut overview effect from space — this post on forest bathing takes us back down to the benefits found on the surface of Earth. Have you seen "forest bathing" in headlines over the last few months? It seems everyone has written about it lately — NPR wrote about it earlier … [Read more...]
Voluntary Simplicity: “Listening to the Quiet Revolution” (Thesis Summary)
Who knows how deep I had to dig into "voluntary simplicity" search results to find Katie Barton's 89-page college thesis in October 2016. It was an eye-opening breakthrough for me personally when I read it back then. I thought it was so good that I read it again in full this week. After all, who wouldn't want less: work, stress, rushing, wants/desires, consumerism/consumption, spending/debt, competition, ecological footprint... And more: time, meaning, intention, balance, … [Read more...]
Slow Hack 005: The (Astronaut) Overview Effect
Whenever I travel somewhere by plane, I'm amazed at how tiny the world looks from above. As you go higher and higher, it seems like all our superficial (and man-made) issues, problems, and challenges slip away. I've been searching for things related to air travel and being 10,000-30,000 feet above ground to see if there was a name for this concept or if other people were thinking or talking about this too. Turns out there is something known as the "break-off" phenomenon that was studied by … [Read more...]
18 Uncommon Stats to Set Your 2018 Perspective
Goodbye 2017, hello 2018 • As the year comes to an end, I took a few days to reflect on 2017 and set perspective heading into 2018. Here are some numbers — covering a wide range of topics — that never cease to amaze me and will help set (or reset) your perspective: 1) 108,000,000,000: It's estimated there have been 108 billion humans to ever live on Earth. You are 1 of 108,000,000,000. (Source) 2) 663,000,000: The number of people on Earth without access to safe water. In places without … [Read more...]