the tortoise & the hare

Latest Episodes:

The Live (Not Live) Hostful May 25, 2016

Show notes

In this month’s Q&A hostful episode, Brooke and Ben curse slow Australian internet, lament their inability to do a Facebook live video chat this month, and answer some excellent listener questions, including: - thoughts on homework and after school activities - how they manage to find time for the experiments while also living a slower life - how they cope on those days that are just tough and nothing is going well at all - an insight into their daily rituals and routines - how to merge two households into one when there are vastly different approaches to “stuff” - why Brooke stopped writing on the blog Recording at 5:30PM on a Wednesday obviously isn’t ideal, but in this largely unedited podcast Brooke and Ben do give a pretty authentic view of what it looks like to balance work, family, self-employment, passion projects and slow living, and sometimes, it ain’t pretty!  Enjoy! ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes: (https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/slow-home-podcast-brooke-mcalary/id985005895?mt=2) or head over to the Patreon page (www.patreon.com/slow) to help support the show financially. And thanks so much for listening! ====

Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meditation #4 May 22, 2016

Show notes

In last week’s episode Brooke said that this meditation challenge has already been a life-changer for her, so there’s actually a limit to where they can go in this episode!

Ben’s experience, on the other hand, hasn’t been as clear cut. He’s battling time constraints and motivation, so in today’s episode he and Brooke talk about the obstacles he’s been facing in daily meditation, as well as what they see and how they visualise the letting go of thoughts while meditating.

Don't forget, you can play along with Brooke and Ben by tagging your social media posts with #slowhomeexperiment and sharing your experiences. Hit us up on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and let’s get experimenting!

Enjoy!

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If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes: (https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/slow-home-podcast-brooke-mcalary/id985005895?mt=2) or head over to the Patreon page (www.patreon.com/slow) to help support the show financially.

And thanks so much for listening!

====

Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Slow Tech with Janell Burley Hoffman May 18, 2016

Show notes

Learning to live mindfully alongside modern technology can be one of the biggest tensions in slowing down. For better or worse, technology keeps us connected, employed and inspired, improves life expectancies and allows us to travel the globe. Modern tech has its issues, no doubt, but giving it up seems… extreme. And not fun.

In today’s episode Brooke talks with Janell Burley Hoffman, an author, technology coach and creator of the Slow Tech Movement, and she drops some wisdom in regards to living mindfully alongside technology - as opposed to living mindlessly and in constant contact with technology.

Brooke and Janell talk about establishing tech boundaries, as well as creating time and space for play, nature, real-world connections and conversations and the mundaneness of life. Janell also has really practical insights into how to establish your family’s iRules and why these are just as (if not more) important for the adults in your home.

This episode is packed with practical advice, inspiration and a good dose of “do what’s right for you”, that will help you figure out the best approach to tech for you and your family.

Head over to www.slowyourhome.com/74 for links to Janell's website and each of the resources mentioned in today's episode.

Enjoy!

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And thanks so much for listening!

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Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meditation #3 May 15, 2016

Show notes

We’re only halfway through the daily meditation Slow Home Experiment and Brooke’s already calling it: this one is a life-changer.

She’s always understood meditation - taking time to just be, focusing on the breath, finding pockets of stillness - is good for us, but practically never really explored it at all. This experiment has given her a reason to sit and meditate for a short time every day though and the benefits are proving massive (and people are already noticing a difference).

In this episode, Ben and Brooke talk about the past week - what they did and didn’t like, what they’ve discovered and some of the wonderful tips they’ve received from listeners over the past few weeks.

Don’t forget, you can play along with Brooke and Ben by tagging your social media posts with #slowhomeexperiment and sharing your experiences. Hit us up on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and let’s get experimenting!

Enjoy!

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And thanks so much for listening!

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Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listener Chat with Juanita May 11, 2016

Show notes

One of the best parts of the Listener Chat episodes are the insights into how people apply slow living to their everyday - without a blog or a book or a podcast to share it with. It’s these insights - these hard-fought, battle-tested, real-world strategies that Brooke loves uncovering in the semi-regular Listener Chats, and this episode is no exception.

Today Brooke chats with Juanita, a mother of two from Sydney whose story is one that is sure to resonate with a lot of people.

Juanita and Brooke talk about the illness that laid her out for months last year, and her somewhat begrudging entry into slow living as a result. They also discuss the decision to skip out on the busy Christmas season last year and the restorative road trip Juanita and her family took.

As an environmentalist, Juanita was further down the conscious consumption path than others may find themselves in the beginning, but it was the work she had to do to lower her standards and personal expectations that was the most challenging.

Enjoy!

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And thanks so much for listening!

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Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meditation #2 May 08, 2016

Show notes

We’re a little over a week into this month’s Slow Home Experiment of daily meditation, and in today’s episode Brooke talks about why she’s finding it increasingly difficult.

Being complete novices in meditation, they have no idea if that’s normal or not but in this episode Ben and Brooke talk about their favourite guided meditations and Brooke looks at why one of the sessions left her in such a rage.

They also list the seven meditations we’ll be following this week, if you wanted to join in and practice the same ones it might be fun to compare notes. Head over to http://www.slowyourhome.com/71 for the full list.

And as they mentioned last week, Ben and Brooke also started the Slow Home Experiment group on the Insight Timer app if you wanted to join in.

Enjoy!

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And thanks so much for listening!

====

Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Big decisions and living your why with Bele Masterman May 05, 2016

Show notes

Bele Masterman is one of only a handful of repeat guests on the poggie, and this week she’s back for her third chat with Brooke.

In a wide-ranging and super honest conversation, Bele and Brooke talk about making big life changes as they become more attuned to the Why in their lives, and why she and her family have decided to move from the inner city to an old orchard outside Sydney.

They also talk about the decision-making process that goes in to big, life-changing decisions like this and how both Brooke and Bele have learnt to accept the discomfort that often goes along with them.

Bele is always full of insights, and this episode is no different as she looks at the idea of seeing ‘signs’ in our lives, what it means when we go with our gut and how she and her husband worked through the process of refining their Why.

They also get off-topic and start talking about the movie Everest, Amy Poehler’s amazing book, some Star Wars origin stories and why Bele thinks Thoreau was a pretty miserable guy.

Enjoy!

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If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes or head over to the Patreon page to help support the show financially.

And thanks so much for listening!

====

Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meditation #1 May 01, 2016

Show notes

After last month’s not-so-great finish to the journalling experiment, Brooke and Ben are back with a new Slow Home Experiment - daily meditation.

This month they’ve decided not to put too many rules or stipulations on the experiment, but rather simply commit to the daily doing - no matter how that looks.

In this episode Brooke talks about why she’d like to meditate in the morning wherever possible, and Ben, with less predictable days, is more than happy to fit the meditation in wherever there is an opportunity.

Brooke and Ben are using the free app, Insight Timer to guide them through this month’s experiment, and Brooke has started a Slow Home Experiment group there, where you can connect with others doing the challenge, as well as follow along and see which meditations Brooke and Ben are doing each day.

Head over to http://www.slowyourhome.com/69 for links and resources, as well as the full blog post.

Don’t forget, you can play along by tagging your social media posts with #slowhomeexperiment and share your experiences. Hit us up on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and let’s get experimenting!

Enjoy!

====

If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes or head over to the Patreon page to help support the show financially.

And thanks so much for listening!

====

Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Slow travel Apr 27, 2016

Show notes

As mad-keen travellers, Brooke and Ben now subscribe to the idea of slow travel, exploring more and getting to know places in a deeper, local kind of way.

In this hostful episode they answer three great listener questions about:

the issue of over-planning
how to balance getting things done and enjoying the down time
keeping kids occupied on long-haul trips

Ben and Brooke also talk about their attempts to pack light for this trip, why they don’t get a local SIM card when they travel and the major benefits of setting up a home base and exploring from there, as opposed to being on the move constantly.

Enjoy!

====

If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes or head over to the Patreon page to help support the show financially.

And thanks so much for listening!

====

Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Journal #4 Apr 24, 2016

Show notes

We’re moving in to the last week of this month’s Slow Home Experiment and it turns out that Ben and Brooke’s journalling experience has been, shall we say, varied?

In this episode Ben and Brooke talk about the mistakes they made and the reason Ben sees this month as a big fat fail.

They also talk about next month’s experiment - daily meditation. Head over to http://www.slowyourhome.com/67 for a list of meditation apps for those of you who want to join us.

Don’t forget, you can play along with Brooke and Ben by tagging your social media posts with #slowhomeexperiment and share your experiences. Hit us up on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and let’s get experimenting!

Enjoy!

====

If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes or head over to the Patreon page to help support the show financially.

And thanks so much for listening!

====

Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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