#asparagus and almonds are expensive because they're resource intensive

[rotationalsymmetry]

"tips to slow down when my mind and society tell me im not fast enough" I think this might be my wheelhouse. Context: I have CFS/ME -- an illness that means I can overdo things very easily if I'm not careful, and that taking frequent rests is important when I feel like it or not. But I also tend to have something of a "must be doing things all the time" personality, which makes that hard. (I probably also have ADHD, and a history of my brain trying to kill me.) I'm going to give a few practical suggestions for active rest first, then talk about more general concepts. I personally find that forms of meditation and similar things that give my brain something to "do" work better than less structured meditations -- things like guided visualizations, body scans, progressive muscular relaxation, and yoga nidra. This sort of thing is especially important for people whose thoughts tend to go to unpleasant places when left alone for too long. In general: if it makes you feel actively bad (not just kind of bored) don't keep doing it; meditation actually can make some issues worse some of the time. Many people can't just "do nothing" on command and have it feel good, but we can "do nothing" if we get enough cues that this is a do nothing kind of time. Human beings tend to rely very heavily on social and environmental cues to know when we need to be in get things done mode and when it's time to relax and enjoy ourselves. Environmental cues are things like physical location -- eg, going to a particular park/coffeeshop/library to write, not checking emails or working from home in your bedroom (when that's possible) to make it easier to fall asleep. Going away on vacation or to a club or to a friend's house to relax. Things like sound or music: eg putting on background instrumental music when you want to focus, putting on meditation or yoga music when you want to do that, putting on loud happy music for doing chores or working out. Smells: incense can be used to reinforce a prayerful or meditative mindset, and good food smells encourage appetite. Lighting and other visual aspects of environment (like an uncluttered environment for focusing, decorations for parties and holidays, getting bright sunlight in the morning to wake up, downloading flux on your electronics so you get less blue light after dark.) Tactile cues like opening the window when you're driving to stay awake, or doing work on a firm chair and leisure internetting on a soft couch. Also, time (daily/weekly/yearly routines and holidays.) Specifically for getting better at slowing down, you can work on identifying what cues already say "slow down" to you and give yourself those cues when you want to slow down, you can try to develop "slow down" cues by attaching them to your slow-down time until you form an association, and/or you can give yourself "get it done" cues when it's get it done time, so that the absence of those cues is a signal that iti's no longer "get it done" time. (Um. I'm assuming this question is about how to actually leisure when it's leisure time, not about how to slow down in all aspects of life; sorry if I got that wrong.) Rituals (things you do the same way each time under specific circumstances) can also act as cues: some people who work from home make a point of getting dressed before they start work, or walk around the block as a way make a clear distinction between work and not-work. Religious groups tend to have certain things they do at the start and end of gatherings to get people into the right mental space, especially when they don't have a dedicated space. Having routines and rituals around "this is what I do first thing in the morning, this is what I do right after work, this is what I do at the start of a day off" (if you do work) can make it easier for getting things done time and leisure time to not blur into each other. (Technically I don't have "work" as such but I kind of give myself work anyways. I'm at a point where there's household and personal stuff that needs to get done, most of which I push off onto my husband, and

there's stuff that I think will make my life or other people's lives better but is basically optional. I also seem to have a psychological need to feel like I'm doing things, which does not always line up neatly with what I think needs to actually get done, and certainly doesn't line up well with my chronic illness limitations. Regardless: having blurry lines between "work" time (or times when I think I should be getting stuff done) and leisure time, is really bad for me and as far as I can tell bad for most people. People need time when, even if there's stuff on the to do list that is not yet done, they can just be like "this is not the time to worry about that, this other specific time that is not now is when I'm going to go back to dealing with that." Especially for students, people who are unemployed, and people whose job can eat up every spare minute if they let it. And realistically, "just get everything done first, then you can relax" is often not a viable option.) By social cues I mostly mean not doing things alone. Just like people are more likely to go jogging every day if they have someone they're jogging with, people are also more likely to meditate consistently with a group or at least one partner, and people have an easier time getting into relaxed mode or party mode with other people who are there for the same thing. (Obviously this is more challenging than usual with the pandemic, but it's a thing to consider.) A lot of activities like cooking, singing, drumming, etc are also just more enjoyable when done in a group. One thing is that moving around frequently and pandemic isolation kind of cancel each other out, in that online meetups can address both. You can look for people to connect with who don't live where you are -- for me I've been spending way more time socializing with people from my former city than people in my current one. I find for me -- I think this might be generalizable but I'm not sure -- getting outside (especially for long walks, which I can't really do any more but whatever) is extremely effective in calming my brain down and keeping perspective. The research shows that physical activity is very useful for emotional regulation and stress relief -- not exactly what you were asking about, but it seems related, at least it could help with the self talk. If you get a lot of self doubt ("I should be doing more") or other brain self-sabotage, cognitive behavior therapy tricks can help -- like, writing down the thought, writing down a different way you could look at things, if the second one seems more credible to you you can try talking back to yourself. Specifically with "should" statements, "I would prefer..." is sometimes a very effective substitution. "I would prefer if I was getting more done."

no, listen, when I say I want to integrate more specific solarpunk stuff in my life, i don’t mean to ask for yet again new “aesthetic” clothes that now you have to buy or make to show your support of the movement (screw that i’m consuming enough as it is), or more posts about impossible house goals, or whatever, I’m asking you what my options to build a portable and eco friendly phone charger are, im asking you viable tiny-appartment edible plants growing tricks on a budget,  im asking tips to slow down when my mind and society tell me im not fast enough, i don’t need more rich art nouveau amateurs aesthetics or pristine but cold venus project, okay, i know i should joins associations where I am tho i’m constantly on the move, thanks for that, just, you know, can we get a bit more practical ??? how do I hack my temporary flat into going off the grid for the time i’m here