The Slow Home Podcast With Brooke Mcalary

When Brooke and Ben had a last minute interview cancellation earlier this week, they thought it might be a good opportunity to do another hostful, but this time spend it digging a little deeper in to the parts of them you may not know about. Parts that might surprise you (or not) and parts they’re a little hesitant to share. They talk about secret habits and vain concerns. They dive in to little-shared talents and personality traits. They disclose some rather embarrassing admissions about farm-based gaming apps and also share their thoughts and reasons for using social media the way they do (and the way they don’t). So take a listen as Ben and Brooke reveal 10 things you may not know about them, including… What’s Ben’s dirty little secret? Which of them was addicted to My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic? Just how successful is Jackrabbit.FM? Has Brooke or Ben has recorded an album? Head over to http://www.slowyourhome.com/165 for the full post, and enjoy! ==== If you're enjo

Brooke has invited Kevin Janks from Centred Meditation back for the next three Monday shows, and together they’ve designed three mini-meditation workshops for you. These workshops go back to the basics of meditation, with each episode focusing on one key topic, that, over time, will allow you to create a well-rounded meditation practice. The three weeks will cover: thoughts emotions present moment awareness Each episode will begin with a brief introduction from Kevin on the topic we’re exploring, followed by a short guided meditation centred on the week’s topic, allowing you to put in to practice what you’ve learnt. The focus of this week’s workshop is thoughts and these are the key takeaways from today’s mini-meditation lesson: We are not our thoughts, even though we’re the ones who make them up (which is really more reason not to take them too seriously!). We have a choice as to how we interact with our thoughts. In everyday life, start to notice the thoughts pas

The last time Tsh Oxenreider appeared on the poggie, she and her family had just returned to the States after a year-long, round-the-world adventure. In the 18 months since, Tsh has turned her family’s adventure in to a beautiful new book called ‘At Home in the World’ where she talks about the paradox of being a wandering homebody - someone who feels at home on the road but also yearns for the deep roots of community. In today’s episode Brooke and Tsh talk about that tension, and the freedom she discovered when she embraced both sides of her personality - the homebody and the wanderer - and why she is now happy to be deep in a home phase of life as she and her husband renovate an old house in a small Texas town. They also talk about community and what it means to Tsh. Her definition, “A place where we know, and are known,” leads them to the topic of finding community in a new place. How can you cultivate community in a place you’re new to? And also, how can you feel p

A couple of weeks ago Brooke came across an article on parent.co talking about the benefits of starting a day with gentleness and decided that she really wanted to talk about it on the poggie. And while she is a big advocate for a little bit of slow in the morning, knows that many other people - both parents and non-parents alike - find the advice frustrating. There’s already so much to do in the mornings, so many pieces of the puzzle to fit together, that adding “start the day with gentleness” often feels a stretch too far. What the article suggests, and what Brooke has found to be true time and time again, is that if we think we don’t have time for a moment of slow in the morning, then we really don’t have time for a meltdown. Taking even just a few minutes to greet our kids with a cuddle, asking how they slept, letting them wake at the pace they need, means they’re far more likely to start the day feeling secure and happy, and less likely to feel overwhelmed or overstimu

It's hostful time again on the podcast and this time (as always) the questions are SOLID.  Brooke and Ben have fun answering your questions, including these gems: I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you think the role of your job/career fits into ones life, if it doesn't link specifically with your 'why'. What are some strategies to manage the paper that builds up so that it does not become overwhelming clutter? How do you manage filing things that need to be kept, and dealing with the rest? What advice would you give your 18 year old self? How do I throw away gifts without the giftee noticing next time they visit?! Brooke has a lot of fun answering the 18 year old question (pink hair?!) and there's a good mix of practical and heart-felt advice to be had.  Head over to http://www.slowyourhome.com/161 for links and the full blog post, and in the meantime - 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

Ben and Brooke are back with another simple experiment for you this week, and it’s all about empty space. Emptiness gets a pretty bad reputation. Seen as a negative trait, a lack of personality, a boring experience for a boring person. But Brooke is a big fan of emptiness and this week she and Ben talk about the fact that there is something wonderful to be gained by embracing a little empty space in your home, your days, your head… It’s not necessarily about convincing you that emptiness is something you should like. In fact, you may discover that you really miss the photos, the books, the cushion or the vases that you pack away, which is great. What this very simple experiment is doing is asking you to pay attention, to be intentional, to tap back in to your reasons for having things, rather than operating on auto-pilot. So while it might look like an experiment about stuff or space, it’s actually a reminder to notice more. Of course you may also realise (much like Ben and Brooke did

After her blog post, 'Top 5 Regrets of the Dying' went viral in 2009, Bronnie Ware was catapulted in to the limelight. Her words impacted countless people as she laid bare those regrets faced by so many of her elderly patients as they faced the end of their lives.  (If you haven't read it you can find a link to the full post over on http://www.slowyourhome.com/159).  Today, however, Brooke and Bronnie sit down to talk about what has come since that post went berserk on the internet. And it turns out it's been an incredible ride, full of unexpected growth and pain and discomfort and beauty. Today Bronnie shares her personal journey and insights with Brooke as they talk about what it means to live a regret-free life and why it's so often incredibly painful to do so.  They talk about why discomfort is the way through and how learning to soften in to it is vital in finding acceptance and gentleness in life, as well as the role of simplicity and meditation in unlocking that acceptance and gentleness

In a recent New York Times article, journalist Karen Rinaldi ruminated on the benefits of sucking at things: “The notion of sucking at something flies in the face of the overhyped notion of perfectionism. The lie of perfectionism goes something like this: “If I fail, it’s only because I seek perfection.” Or “I can never finish anything because I’m a perfectionist.” Since the perfectionist will settle for nothing less, she is left with nothing… “By taking off the pressure of having to excel at or master an activity, we allow ourselves to live in the moment.” In this episode Ben and Brooke dive in to the idea of being OK with not being good at something, and why there is a freedom in accepting that they may never move beyond the mediocre. Brooke talks about the fact that she enjoys things a lot more (like snowboarding, for example) when she lets go of the need to ride like a boss and that there is a lightness and a fun that exists in doing something f

Today Brooke chats with the wonderful, challenging, inspiring author Sarah Wilson. Sarah is someone Brooke has admired for years - not only for the work she’s done to promote the notion of drastically cutting sugar in our diets, preventing food waste, and her more recent work in mental health awareness - but also the way she goes about that work. She is honest and open, prepared to stand for something regardless of whether people agree with her, and she’s also funny and smart and good at not taking herself too seriously. In this conversation Brooke and Sarah talk about her new book, ‘first we make the beast beautiful: a new story about anxiety’ and dive deep in to how Sarah slows down in order to both strengthen herself against anxiety’s harmful side, and simultaneously go deeper in to it. They talk about the discomfort of true reflection and Sarah’s growing boredom with shallow conversations and external grasping (and why cocktail parties are the worst example of this!) as

Today marks the final episode of Ben and Brooke’s series on uncovering and harnessing your Why.   As Brooke mentioned last week, she’s sometimes struggled to take her personal Why and use it to help steer her in the smaller, more everyday decisions, which is why she distilled her big picture Why (her eulogy) in to a list of personal values. It’s these values that they talk about today, and more specifically, how to apply them in the everyday.  Brooke shares how she puts some of her decisions on a values scale and asks herself, “On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being least compassionate and 10 being most, where does this choice lie?” The helpful thing with doing it this way is that she can see that not everything is going to be a 10. In fact, most things aren’t going to be a 10. But aiming for more compassion over less is a good place to work towards regardless. Head over to http://www.slowyourhome.com/156 for the full blog post and this week’s simple task, and in

It’s hostful time again and the questions Brooke and Ben answer today are, as always, complete crackers. Do you have any tips on managing email and the impact it’s having on my life, both personal and professional? How can I deal with kids clothes? We’re constantly receiving hand-me-downs and the sheer volume is making things difficult. Any tips on keeping it manageable? Has there ever been a point in the beginning of your journey where you felt stuck? Perhaps lost momentum? I'm feeling a little frustrated at the moment, but I'm a long way away from where I've come. What can I do to move past this? Do you meal plan for lunches and breakfasts as well as dinners? How does this work? What's your favorite choice of beer?! And what do you like to throw on the grill?! I'm trying to slow things down here and implement "Sunday Fun days" at my house. Would love to hear your take on slow, fun days at home. As you can see, a varied offering of questions and lots of fun was had in the answering. You c

Last week Ben and Brooke both went fairly deep in to the idea of legacy. Brooke spoke about her eulogy and Ben spoke about the things that drive him in a big picture, high level way. They spoke about the kind of life they want to live in order for those legacies to come to fruition, and the jarring realisation that they often miss the mark. The only problem Brooke has ever had with the idea of eulogy is that there was always a certain level of specificity missing, so in today’s episode they look at the next level of intention - values - what they are, what theirs are, and how they use them in addition to their Why to determine their choices and actions on the day to day level. Brooke picks apart her eulogy from last week and extracts three key values on which she can essentially make any decision, and Ben does the same with his. Next week, as they wrap up this series, they’re going to look at how to use these values as a framework on which to base decisions and take action. Head over to http://www

When is a hostful not actually a hostful? When it's a WIP! (Otherwise known as a Work In Progress).  In this episode Brooke and Ben talk about the one thing they do every week which allows them to work together, be productive and actually like each other at the end of (almost) every day. Their Monday morning WIP is the cornerstone of their working week and in today's poggie they look at how it works and the structure it takes now that they're 18 months into the self-employment adventure. They also use this as a springboard to discuss the bigger issue of living a less-than-slow life right now, and how they find balance between building a business and maintaining a certain level of slow-ness in home and family life. It's not an easy one to strike and Brooke admits to the toll it can take when advocating for slow while not being able to live it. But on the flipside, she also talks about how she's turned that from a guilt-ridden experience to one of learning and a deeper understanding of

Last week Brooke and Ben spoke about the idea of developing your Why - specifically, what it is and why it’s important. Today they continue that same conversation, focusing on how to uncover your Why. Brooke has spoken about it on the podcast before, but it was an eulogy writing exercise that helped her uncover her personal Why, so in this episode she reads that eulogy aloud and talks about the impact it’s had on the years since. Ben also digs in to the idea of legacy for the first time, and they both discuss how important it is to have this big-picture notion of what will remain once they're gone.  It can seem like a very heavy thing to consider, but Brooke and Ben both agree that doing the work to uncover these big Whys, and the smaller ones over the following couple of weeks, is one of the most informative things we can do in creating a life we're proud of.  Head over to http://www.slowyourhome.com/152 for this week's action and to answer some questi

Have you ever had a conversation that changes your entire outlook on the world? One that shifts your worldview in monumental ways? That challenges and invites you to think about your choices in terms that are entirely different? In today's episode, Brooke chats with the utterly wonderful Annie Raser-Rowland, co-author of The Art of Frugal Hedonism and experiences one of those conversations...  Support the show.

This year our Monday shows are focused on small, bite-sized actions you can take that will help you move towards living a slower, simpler life. The past few episodes were about the very practical tasks of green cleaning, so the next few weeks are going to look at things from a very different, bigger picture perspective. Brooke and Ben are going to do a deep dive on one of the topics Brooke speaks about a lot - finding your Why. It's something she's asked about frequently - not only how to uncover it, but what to do with your Why once it's been uncovered - so she and Ben have decided to spend the next few weeks exploring the idea of Why, and why it's so important in creating a simpler, slower, more values-based life.  In today's show, Brooke looks at two main topics: what is a Why, and why is it important to have one? She and Ben talk about the ways in which their personal Why is at the centre of everything they do, how it adds clarity and confidence to their decisions and how it helps

A few weeks ago Brooke sat down to chat all things meditation with Kevin Janks - founder of Centred Meditation in Sydney. It was a fascinating look into Kevin’s journey from skeptic to practitioner and the benefits of meditation he’s experienced personally, as well as those he sees daily in his clients and students at the studio. What Brooke failed to do though, was ask him how to actually meditate. (Quite the oversight, really!) When she started getting lots of questions wanting to know more about meditation, she knew she needed to sit down with Kevin again, but this time go back to basics. In today’s poggie Brooke and Kevin talk about his definition of meditation and why it can be much simpler than we expect and he takes us through the simple process they teach at Centred Meditation. Brooke also asks him how long we need to meditate in order to start feeling the benefits and what kind of words or visualisations we need to practice. Brooke also asks Kevin some of the most common questions s

In the final cleaning related episode (many of you have found these really helpful, which is awesome, but truth be told, Brooke is looking forward to not thinking quite so much about cleaning as of next week!) Ben and Brooke look at their rhythms. Specifically the rhythms they’ve developed at home that allow them to stay on top of the home maintenance and ensure things never get overwhelming. It might seem like over-engineering, but this is the rhythm that Brooke has been using in some version or another for years, and while it’s changed as circumstances have shifted and the kids have gotten older, it’s served her well and means they can minimise: the amount of time they spend thinking about cleaning the overwhelm that strikes when there’s a build-up of jobs that haven’t been done frequently enough. (A bathroom left for a month takes much longer to clean than a bathroom that’s cleaned once a week, for example) the stress and willpower factors involved in cleaning - there&r

It’s that time of the month again! Where Ben and Brooke sit down and answer some of your questions about all things slow living, and try to keep the stupid jokes to a minimum. (In today’s episode they succeed in at least one of these areas). This month the show opens with a question from Sharni about camping, which is super fun and timely as Brooke and Ben are currently waiting for the soaking wet Sydney March to end so they can spend some time in the national park down south. Sharni asked specifically for a list of the bare essentials when it comes to camping, which you can find over on the blog at http://www.slowyourhome.com/147. Keep in mind, much of what is suggested in the list can be borrowed rather than bought (particularly if you’re just starting out with your camping adventures and aren’t sure of your style yet) and it’s definitely worthwhile taking a few exploratory trips before committing to one kind of set up. Aside from camping, Brooke and Ben also answer questions a

One of the biggest changes Brooke and Ben have made in cleaning their house over the past few years (aside from their love of vinegar and citric acid!) is to really think about the materials they use, and to start looking at ways of reducing waste. When she realised the dishcloths they used at home were made from plastic and would spend hundreds of years in landfill, Brooke decided to make a simple change and started using compostable kitchen cloths instead. Over the years, she has developed a life cycle of products at home that makes the most of upcycling and re-using products, making a big difference to their waste output. In today’s poggie Ben and Brooke talk about what that lifecycle looks like and how you can start making simple changes at home too. Head over to http://www.slowyourhome.com/146 for all the details and links to some of the products Brooke and Ben use at home. 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