Midsummer Sun, Take Back Your Time, Slow Time

Living in Season
The official newsletter of the School of the Seasons
Volume 2, Number 11
July 3, 2004
The Dog Days have begun

Contents

Welcome
My Season: Midsummer Sun
Living in Season: Take Back Your Time
New Offering: Online Course: Slow Time
In My Library: Books on Time
Holiday Packet: Lammas
Summer Correspondence Course
Copyright
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Welcome
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Midsummer Sun
The Summer Solstice tango picnic was a lovely event and it was a special treat to be dancing tango outdoors, on a concrete floor in the middle of the old Gasworks, amidst rusting machines and fluttering pigeons, on the longest (and hottest) day of the year.

Earlier in the day, I picked my magical St. John's Wort from a crack at the edge of the road about half a mile from my house. Although I wanted to see the magical change of color (the yellow flowers of the plant turn the liquid in which they're immersed a deep cherry red), I didn't use it to make schnapps because I was worried about pollution. Instead I used it to replenish my garlands over the front door, the window to the fire escape and the rear window of my car.

I also put it, along with other midsummer herbs and flowers, into a bowl of water which I set out on the fire escape on Midsummer's Night's Eve. When I washed my face in the water on the morning of Midsummer's Day, I felt a tingle of magical energy. That's a new tradition which I will try
again next year.

I had the pleasure of meeting Patricia Monaghan, the author of The Book of Goddesses and Heroines, and O Mother Sun! and many other great books on spirituality, while I was in Chicago for my conference. She told me she was inspired by my Midsummer Herb column to create a new tradition: cutting the mugwort on her farm on summer solstice to use it for winter solstice wreaths. She calls this a "Pat tradition," a term coined by one of her friends which means something Pat does once and enjoys.

I've been charged with enthusiasm for my School of the Seasons work ever since I returned from the Take Back Your Time Day conference where I saw both the urgency of fixing the problem of time poverty and the incredible transformation that occurs when people find a new relationship with time. So I've been developing new ways to get my work out to more people: I've sent out several book proposals and query letters and I've created an online course (more below) that I'm really excited about.

May you enjoy your summer plunge into the river of time.

Living in Season: Take Back Your Time
Crows mark the threshold of my adventures in time — and thus I wasn't too surprised when an adolescent crow plunked down on the balcony of the fire escape outside my kitchen window on the day I left for Chicago and the Take Back Your Time conference. For hours, when I was supposed to be packing I hovered outside the window watching as the young crow squawked at her parents demanding food and made clumsy flights to unlikely perches like the roof of a car while her parents and other adult crows gathered, forming a protective circle to guard her maiden flights.

The circle of community was also evident at the Take Back Your Time conference, organized by Seattle film producer, John deGraaf (who like the Pied Piper lured the participants to Chicago with his superb networking skills) and inspired by the work of community educator, Cecile Andrews (whose study circles informed the structure of the conference).

The group was diverse and included college students, activists, union organizers, ministers, college professors, film-makers, corporate executives, therapists, writers, policy-makers, musicians, economists, nurses, and one baby, the mellow Miss Caroline. We talked and bonded over meals, at receptions, during plemary sessions, in workshops and at a local bar, while tackling with great enthusiasm the project of changing the world.

Here are some of the highlights:

A bardic presentation by Jay Griffiths, author of A Sideways Look at Time, who wove a spell over the audience with her incandescent prose, inspired performance and heretical view of time

Bill Doherty, a professor at the University of Minnesota and a family therapist, got our attention by asking how many of us remembered "going out to play" as kids and saying that sociologists would soon be seeking us out to learn about this lost American custom. He told chilling stories about the effects of over-scheduling on children and families.

Jill Wiley of the Massachusetts Council of Churches described a project supported by a diverse group of religious communities to encourage people to take Sabbath time, time off for personal reflection Carl Honore shared many of the great stories in his book, In Praise of Slowness, but I especially enjoyed learning about the Society for the Deceleration of Time, based in Austria, which regularly runs "speed traps" in town centers, stopping pedestrians who are moving too fast and asking them to walk the same distance while manipulating a complicated turtle marionette, and the Long Now Foundation in San Francisco which is building clocks that tick once a year and measure time over ten millennia..

Kendra Walker of Hilton Hotels presented the results of surveys conducted by the hotel chain that show that women have only 54 minutes of personal time a day (men have slightly more) and that 70% of Americans have a dream vacation in mind but 80% of those have never taken it.

Michael Gebloter of Redefining Progress, the policy-making non-profit organization in Oakland which has made popular the concept of an ecological footprint, shared some statistics that startled me. Did you know the income gap in the United States is the largest in the world? Also in 1900, 80% of hours worked went to pay for basic human needs, while in 1990 that percentage rose to 85%, meaning your perception that you have to work harder for less is probably true.

The research of Tim Kasser of Knox College was equally striking: he found that satisfaction in life has no relationship with wealth (once survival needs are met) but decreases significantly in proportion to hours worked.

Cecile Andrews described various ground-breaking "social inventions," small, usually grassroots and egalitarian ideas, like flex cars, co-housing, moveon.org,, Habitat for Humanity, book clubs, dark skies (an group devoted to ending light pollution so we can see the stars again at night) and Cecile's new enthusiasm: eco-villages (ways to turn urban neighborhoods into communities).

During a panel on Sabbath, one of the participants passed along some wise advice from her Zen Buddhist prior who tells his students that every minute is a meditation, so don't multi-task, just pay attention to what you're doing.

Economist Phil Hyde shared his research that shows that unemployment declines 1% for every 1 hour shaved off the maximum work week. By reducing work hours in relationship to unemployment rates, we could effectively get rid of unemployment.

Joe Robinson of Work To Live talked about the sorry state of American vacations. Australians get 4 weeks per year and Europeans average around three weeks, mandated by law, while American average one week. Even that small amount is vanishing. Five years ago, only 5% of American companies did not offer vacation benefits. Now that percentage is up to 13%. In a brainstorming session, generating creative ways to share these ideas with others, I came up with the notion of colorful labels that could be pasted over watch faces, with slogans like:

Slow down, you move too fast (that's Simon & Garfunkel)

Passion expands time (that's Proust)

Simpler, smaller, slower

There is no present like the time

or my personal current favorite:

Enjoy every sandwich (Warren Zevon)

I led a workshop on Natural Time with Jay Griffiths which was "life-altering" for a few of the participants. I came away committed to publicizing Take Back Your Time Day (Oct 24) and helping people find more time in their lives. I've sent off my book manuscript to two publishers in the past weeks and I'm happy to offer the same material as an online course (see below).

Resources:
Take Back Your Time Day, www.timeday.org
Andrews, Cecile, www.simplicitycircles.com
Dark Skies: www.dark-skies.org
Gebloter, Michael, Redefining Progress, www.rprogress.org
To determine your ecological footprint go to:
www.lead.org/leadnet/footprint/intro.htm
Griffiths, Jay, A Sideways Look at Time, Tarcher 1999
Honore, Carl, In Praise of Slowness, Harper Collins 2004
Hyde, Phil, www.timesizing.com
Kasser, Tim, The High Price of Materialism, MIT Press 2002
Robinson, Joe, www.worktolive.info
Wiley, Jill, Massachusetts Council of Churches,
www.masscouncilofchurches.org

New Offering: 12 Week Online Course: Slow Time
"Time is a gentleman," said French writer Louis Servan-Shreiber
who learned to befriend time rather than fight it. That's the goal
of this twelve-week course which will you develop a more
satisfying relationship with time.

Click here for more information on the Slow Time course.

In the Library: Books on Time
DeGraaf, John, editor, Take Back Your Time: Fighting Overwork and Time Poverty in America, Berrett-Koehler 2003
I read this book in the airplane on the way to Chicago and was totally was impressed by the breadth of the articles and the depth of information. There are articles on how time poverty affects our relationships, our families, our pets, our health, and our happiness, plus suggestions for solutions, from changing public policy to making better personal choices.

Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life, Cecile Andrews, Harper Collins 1997
I haven't read this book yet but I found myself skimming the section on shopping and cheering — finally someone espousing my feelings (I loathe shopping, even grocery shopping). Cecile in person is a grounded and confident person and that's exactly how she comes across in this book: offering simple, one might say commonsense advice, on how to simplify your life and live more authentically.

Muller, Wayne, Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest, Bantam 1999
I can't remember if I've ever mentioned this book in a previous newsletter but if not, it's a sad oversight. This is one of my favorite books of all time: inspiring, beautifully written and full of wise suggestions for creating sacred space in your life to enjoy the pleasures of reflection and connection.

Levine, Robert, A Geography of Time: The Temporal Misadventures of a Social Psychologist, Basic Books 1997
Another book I haven't yet read. It strikes me as an update of anthropologist Edward Hall's work in the 1980's about how different cultures experience time.

Robinson, Joe, Work To Live: The Guide to Getting a Life, Perigee 2003
I haven't read this book, just seen the reviews of it on Amazon and the description of the contents on the Work to Live site but it looks great, a balanced combination of research and suggestions for cutting back on work hours.

Jasper, Jan, Take Back Your Time: How to Regain Control of Work, Information and Technology, St. Martin's 1999
Not to be confused with John deGraaf's book (the subtitle is a good clue), this one is geared more towards time management. but it contains good ideas for simplifying your life and making sure your schedule reflects your values and priorities. I'll be using ideas from this book, and all of the books above, in my new online course.

Holiday Packet: Lammas
It's not too soon to order your Lammas packet if you want ideas for celebrating this most obscure of the seasonal holidays. The illustrated, 31 page portfolio includes:

Ancient Celtic and Anglo-Saxon traditions of Lughnasad and Lammas
Transformation mysteries of beer and bread
Recipes for mead & methlegyn, medicinal & fermented honey beverages
Instructions for creating wheat weavings and lavender wands
Lyrics for Lammas songs, including Brigg Fair and John Barleycorn
And much more

To order go to our Store!

Signs of Summer
Elizabeth from Baton Rouge reported that she planted sunflowers for the first time this year and her first plant bloomed on the Summer Solstice. She also told me that sunflowers were one of the first plants cultivated by the Native Americans in Louisiana.

Send me the signs of summer where you live, and I will post them on my website.

Summer is A-Coming In
If it feels like Summer where you live, the Summer correspondence course is now available. (Of course, you can also order any season out of season, if you like). For a list of topics and the subjects covered, go

Copyright
Copyright ©Waverly Fitzgerald 2004.
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