Are we living life just too fast? Recent survey indicate that people are in hurry by walking too fast to next destination. We can't seem to stop to smell the roses.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/070502/odds/odd_pedestrians_speed_study_odd_dc

Brisk walking never hurt anybody. I eat two Krispy Kremes a (original glazed or creme stuffed chocolate topped), am not your posterboy for the USDA food pyramid, but I maintain my weight (slightly overweight) and sometimes loose weight. I attribute that to always being brisk on my feet. Besides, my work is constantly being on my feet.

As for stopping to smell the roses, what would you expect in an age of maximum corporate returns for shareholders and maximum efficiency by workers. Life has to be fast paced because cars, mortgages, health insurance and education are expensive, and if you do not perform to the highest level, someone else will. Dog eat dog, baby.

Just made me think of a new business venture and slogan Mobile Rose Aromatherapy - "We bring the roses to you so you don't have to stop and smell them".
Right up there with personal chefs, dog walkers, dog pooper scooper services, and other responsiblilities of daily life that people used to just doo (no pun intended).

Whats that? If it is what I think it is then, no thats just plain silly, even the writers of Monty Python wouldn't of thought of that as a topic for one of their comedy sketches.

As for the fast walking, I guess it a bit like rats in a maze. The more rats in the maze the faster they scurry along.

have you guys seen anyone use a personal shopper? Canada has a cottage industry of personal shopper who would buy clothes or grocery shopping for you while you are working. when you get home, the personal shopper will bring you the stuff.

They exist all over. I wouldn't use one- I'm that rare guy who actually likes shopping. It's actually calling, but when I shop it is either for groceries (creative), clothes (ordered online most of the time), books or goodies.

I would prefer that things slowed down a bit. I could do with less hyper speed and multi-tasking.

our shopping has become a family outing. We will leave on a Sat after my 1 year old gets up from his morning nap and eat lunch out somewhere then go to Sams club then Kroger then anywhere else we need to go and depending on if he wants another nap by then we go home or if he wants to stay up we may go to a park or out to dinner. So we don't go out to shop during the week and take time away from anything else.

I dunno, I think we got it pretty easy compared to how things used to be. Farm living ain't exactly sedentary, unless you think working 12 hours a day 7 days a week doing a lot of dirty, sweaty, back and joint grinding work is a light load, then doing a couple hours of financial work at night after supper, or else tearing into the tractor to fix whatever broke so it'll be ready to go tomorrow, or helping Betsy throw her calf at 2:00 am. At least that's what my uncle tells me life used to be like before he moved to the city and got a job, and retired from farming.

Around my office we call them interns

I grew up like that. Grandfather was a full time farmer, my father was the first generation to graduate high school and hold down a full time job and still work the farm so he was always busy. I helped out with a lot of farm work, delivered a calf before I had graduated high school. So when my wife was pregnant i told her I knew how to deliver, just tie the baler twine around whatever is sticking out and pull

My props to the farmers. I have never been associated with a farm so I could never really understand those aching muscles and sheer physical payload day in and day out. I will argue this, however:

Mental/cerebral strain is just as draining as physical strain.

What is the difference between pulling, planting, bending, lifting, hoisting, throwing and rapid fire decision making, subtle manipulation, calculating, problem recognition and problem solving, and other mentally draining tasks.

Sort of like one of my coworkers. He can fix the car, but I can fix the copier. You would not want me fixing the car and he should just leave the copier alone.

And needing to do fifty million things in one day while only having time to do twently million things will put some spring in your step.

And for those who asked, check out pooper-scooper.com. It is legit...

I hear you.

Though sometimes in order to function in our environments we have to move at the same speed as the rest of the herd or get trampled.

But that doesn't mean we have to mentally miss out on life because of the physical rushing about.

I remember an old quote but I can't remember the source.

"Before a man becomes enlightened;
he rises in the morning,
eats his breakfast,
works in the field,
comes home in the evening,
eats his supper,
makes love to his wife,
and goes to sleep.

After a man becomes enlightened;
he rises in the morning,
eats his breakfast,
works in the field,
comes home in the evening,
eats his supper,
makes love to his wife,
and goes to sleep.

It's not so much what you do as HOW you do what you do.

Sitting in traffic can be a good time to practice a little slowing down and being mindful of things (the pattern of gravel in the road way, the light reflecting off of the cars and signs around us, the feel of my feet on the brake...)

I've stopped driving with my radio on so I can better pay attention to the world around me. This very well may be the last time I ever drive anywhere (zipped enough people into body bags in my career), and I don't want to miss anything no matter how small and insignificant.

Ever tried eating a bag of M&M's one at a time?

It's an interesting exercise.

My FIL works installing replacing auto glass so hes always lifting and cutting the seals and working in the rain and cold and heat and says I'm lucky to have a job like mine but I can't make him understand that the mental work I do is just as hard and stressfull but in a different way.

You really should learn how to fix a car, you never know when you might need the skill. I've stopped a couple times to help out people who always paid someone else to work on their cars even down to changing thr oil and I've been able to open the hood and fix their problem and get them on their way. One was at a rest stop and thie lady and her son were walking back and forth from the car to the water fountain getting paper cups of water to pour in the radiator as a tiny hose that let coolant flow around the intake to warm the air entering the throttle body and it was leaking. I ended up having a small length of hose in my tool kit which fit and got them on their way.

Yep, I think that is a big part of it. Anymore a farmer has to be a part time vet, chemist, metallurgist, botanist, entymologist, accountant, and speak more than one language.

But for the rest of us poor sods, sitting at the desk flogging on the chiclets and staring at the increasingly smaller fine print can create some real problems.

I know that when I am trying to build a monster schedule in a tight deadline, it gets to the point after 5 or 6 thousand lines of code where I just about can't sit still anymore. It is odd how twitchy and knotted up I can get from just sitting here trying to think as fast as possible. One of my most undesirable sensations indeed. My breathing even gets erratic, I tend to hold my breath when my rate of work goes to full-tilt-bozo mode.