Tag: alternative life strategies

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alternative life strategies

We live faster, travel more, and buy more things. The present day, marked by the rapid development of technology and consumption-oriented societies, is more and more characterized by a fast pace of life, with stress and rush. Life today is filled with grave contradictions: throughout human history the majority of people have never lived so long and in such a good health, surrounded by such a tremendous wealth of goods. Still, nowadays we are forced to face problems like the negative consequences of urbanization, endangering our natural environment and biodiversity, impersonalization of human relationships, and increasing social disparities.  

Globalisation has brought us certain guidelines as how to behave in this world. However, there are countless actions and strategies confronting the prevailing, “mainstream” way of living and doing things. These alternative endeavours manifest themselves at the individual level. There are many alternative life strategies. These are not specified, they may take different forms and means – depending on whether it is everyday life, work, an attitude, or beliefs. They might cover a wide range from growing one’s own vegetables in the living room to abandoning one’s home and moving to a house truck instead. The range of the alternative life strategies is endless; the point is to follow one’s needs, one’s heart, and to be in harmony with oneself. 

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Slow Knowledge

mindfulness

Mindfulness – originally a psychological treatment intended to heal the mind – is a simple technique similar to meditation or relaxation: a way of experiencing life being fully present. Its core idea is to help us regain control over our lives by focusing our attention on mental, bodily, and environmental signals, and to make us fully aware of them. This method helps us live the moment and be immersed in it, while slowing down our accelerated pace of life. Through slowing down, we give ourselves time to thoroughly process the impressions we experience, to reflect on them and thus make conscious decisions, or to find new sources of life-changing inspiration that help us redefine who we are. 

 

 

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Slow Knowledge

self-sustainability

Self-sustainability is a state of being in which the basic needs of an individual or a family can be fulfilled based on their own sources, without outer help. Self-sustaining entities make themselves independent of money, global economy and employers. This idea has emerged repeatedly in the modern history of mankind – see David Thoreau’s Walden – On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (1854), which gives insight into withdrawal into nature from the maiming impact of civil society. In addition, numerous other examples could be mentioned where individuals or complete communities withdrew from industrialised society to reach self-sufficiency by producing all raw materials and products for themselves and their families using traditional methods. Withdrawal does not only mean independence but also progression – through building a harmonious relationship with nature, one can also develop spiritually. Traditional methods of producing do not exploit nature the way industrial agriculture and livestock farming do. Self-sustainability can also be realised in an urban environment: by baking our own bread, by using chemical free sanitary and cleaning products, by drying, preserving or pickling fruits and vegetables, or by sewing our own clothes.