Slow Food, Slow Cities, Slow Travel…the element of time and how we either squander it or savor it has become a meme for the movement toward the local, the artisanal, the responsible. The idea that doing something slowly and carefully and taking the time to enjoy it can be almost universally applied.

There’s enough evidence that the stress of fast-paced, over-programed lives take a toll on our health and happiness, no matter what our age.

We’re so marinated in the culture of speed we almost fail to notice the toll it takes on every aspect of our lives–our health, our diet, our work, our relationships, the environment and our community. And it sometimes takes a wake up call, doesn’t it, to alert us to the fact that we’re hurrying through our lives instead of actually living them; that we’re living the fast life instead of the good life.