Today’s Solutions: October 22, 2026

The ultimate toolkit to get slow. Effective and fast!


Marco Visscher and Jay Walljasper | July 2004 issue
Leave your watch on the bedside table.
Check your e-mail only two or three times a day.
Take the scenic route.
Light candles before you start cooking dinner.
Make up rituals. Say a silent word of thanks and make eye contact with everyone at the table before you start eating.
Let the phone ring once or twice before answering.
Make a handmade present for a friend.
Set aside one night a week all for yourself– and a day once in a while.
While driving, assume that everyone else on the road is answering the call of a friend in real need.
Bake your own bread. Grow your own vegetables. Brew your own beer.
Spend as much time outdoors in natural settings as you possibly can. Pay attention to cycles of the moon and the shifting seasons. Sit down beside a stream or river whenever you can.
Appreciate the pleasures of slow music: tango, waltz, cool jazz, ballads, bossa nova, folk and more.
Buy two hammocks: one for the garden, one for your living room.
Sit for a moment with your eyes closed when you start your computer.
Take a few moments before you climb out of bed in the morning to remember your dreams and think about what you want from the day.
Learn the fine art of arriving late gracefully.
Don’t be afraid to cancel plans.
Factor in an additional 25 percent, every time you estimate how long something will take.
Always jump on the chance to play with a child, and do it on their terms.
Never pack your schedule so tightly that there’s no room for a short walk.
Take a left where you generally take a right.
 

Print this article
More of Today's Solutions

The Giving Grove: how Kansas City’s free community orchards became a na...

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM It is harvest time in Kansas City, and at Kansas City Academy, students are stepping outside during lunch ...

Read More

New research identifies the exact spot where Alzheimer’s protein tangle...

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Researchers at Northwestern University and UC Santa Barbara identified a specific contact point on tau proteins where the ...

Read More

How the Sounds Right project brings harmony to environmental protection and m...

In the realm of music, inspiration can strike from the most unexpected sources. From the soft rustle of leaves to the grand roar of ...

Read More

Paris curbed cars—and cleared the air: what 20 years of bold green policy ach...

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Paris spent the last two decades reimagining its urban landscape, and the results are not just visible, but ...

Read More