Islands and Slow Life

“Less is more”: it is a concept often promoted as a precious key to improve the quality of life, and at the same time is often very difficult to be applied in the daily routine when the abundance of inputs – on the professional, personal, educational level … – can be oppressive.

I discovered the Aeolian Islands a bit more than seven years ago, and after the first, many other visits follow and this archipelago of volcanic islands in the blue of the Mediterranean Sea become a regular destination where periodically I feel the need to spend some time.

Throughout the years, I understood that the attraction powered by the island, in its wild and unspoiled dimension, is not only linked with the beauty of the landscape, the warmth of the sun and the expanse of the sea, but has deeper roots, strongly connected with a therapeutic power that the island is able to drive on my self.

Island means essence, and it gifts me with a precious break from a life style that sometimes can be overwhelming. It embodies a slow life dimension, where rhythm relaxes, thinking calms down, ideas simplify, desires focus, activities are naturally selected … in a purifying ritual able to highlight aspects that, in the richness of inputs offered by the city life, sometimes get lost.

On the island, the distances concentrate and the time stretches, priorities reset and planning, relieved of the layers that we can leave behind, defines with more clarity.

The silence clears ideas, the reduction of engagements redefines the goals, the quieter life style helps the relaxation and with it the focus on listening and feeling … and days acquire powerful easiness, a true source of regenerating energy, that seems almost obvious when reached but difficult to be recognized in the thick net of activities where I sometimes try to hide.

 

Photo Credits: Stefano Butturini