The Slow Home Podcast With Brooke Mcalary

Today Brooke chats with Justin Morrissey, the founder of Toolo, the Blue Mountains’ first tool library and co-op. As you probably know, a huge part of slow living is based in both community and environmental stewardship, and tool libraries are a big step in the right direction. In this episode Justin and Brooke get really practical, as he explains how he began the library (and what drove him to do so in the first place) as well as his advice for people who may want to start a library in their own community. They also look at how the organisation is structured and the work that went in to it before launching, as well as the vital role that volunteers play in its ongoing success. Brooke and Justin also talk about the issue of convenience, and why our mindset needs to shift from one of immediacy to one of preparation (we can’t expect these resources to operate in the same way as the local Bunnings or big box store) and how learning to let go of the ego of ownership is a big part in the change too. If

We’ve got something a little different lined up for the next four weeks, and while at first glance it might not seem to be too closely related to the practicalities of slow living, Brooke and Ben think that anyone currently struggling with certain areas of slow living is going to benefit from it a lot. The next few weeks they're going to explore slow learning. Why?   One of the common obstacles people face in learning to slow down and simplify is the one-step-forward, two-steps-back dance that often accompanies it. There is so much information available for us as we try to establish what approach works, and often we simply immerse ourselves in as much of it as possible. The problems arise when either we don’t spend our time in the doing, or when we try to learn in a way that doesn’t work for us personally. Today Ben explains the three different types of learner and how we can harness the strengths and limitations of them, and why it matters. The full blog post is over at http://www

This will probably come as a surprise to exactly no-one, but Brooke used to really over-complicate things (and sometimes still does). She would over-engineer solutions and spend huge amounts of time trying to get right down deep in to the specific thoughts, behaviours or actions that were causing problems. And while she believes we sometimes need to ruminate on things for a while before clarity comes knocking, other times we just need to simplify. In today’s poggie Brooke finds herself coming back to the same handful of answers time and time again. They’re ideas she refers to in her own quest to slow down and simplify life, and they apply to all of the questions in today’s hostful episode. As always, the questions are insightful and challenging, and Ben and Brooke try their best to answer them: How do you manage different personality types within a family (introvert v extrovert, the needs of solitude v constant companionship, etc)? How do you adjust to things being out of control / out of w

This is a bit of a departure from the usual themes of the Monday shows, but Brooke was involved in a fascinating Twitter conversation a few weeks ago that got her thinking about simplicity writers, their gender and why the most popular ones are overwhelmingly male. Brooke and Ben talk through the genesis of the conversation, as well as the fact that Brooke has noticed this trend for quite some time and believes it’s in part due to the fact that men and women (broadly speaking, of course) deal with problems differently. Neither approach is right or wrong, and neither can effectively solve every problem without dipping in to the other approach occasionally, but it does beg the question of why one approach seems to be more popular than the other (at least in terms of Amazon best-selling lists, anyway). Brooke thinks at least part of it has to do with confidence and fear of being judged (that’s definitely been a personal obstacle for her) and the impact this has on the directness of her writing. But t

Tim Silverwood is one of Brooke’s environmental role models. He maintains that he’s just an ordinary guy who somehow found himself at the forefront of environmental activism in Australia, but his passion and knowledge means that while he may be an ordinary guy, the impact he’s having on the growing environmental movement in Australia is anything but ordinary. As one of the founders of Take 3 for the Sea and a powerful voice in the movement away from single-use plastics, Tim is having a massive impact both in Australia and around the world. In today’s episode Tim and Brooke talk about the Plastic-Free July campaign and why it’s so important, but they also go back to the catalyst for Tim’s shift to environmentalism. Perhaps not surprisingly, Tim’s passion for protecting the ocean started in his passion for the waves and like so many people now heavily invested in protecting our wild spaces, Tim was a surfer who used his love of the ocean to drive changes in his own life

Most of us have heard of (and experienced) FOMO at some point. FOMO is the Fear of Missing Out and it strikes at the heart of modern life. We do things, attend things or buy things in order to avoid it, but there will always be things we miss out on. So why do we struggle with it so much? A couple of weeks ago a friend of the show (Mr Andy McLean - you may know him from such programs as Episode 124 of The Slow Home Podcast) sent Brooke and Ben a photo of a Leunig poem about JOMO, and they thought it would be a great topic to chat about on today’s poggie. JOMO is the Joy of Missing Out and the antidote to FOMO. It’s the utter delight that is saying no and doing less and choosing to not compete in the Busy Olympics. JOMO is a breath of fresh air when it feels like we’re choking on the idea that in order to be successful we need to be constantly in motion, striving and chasing the life that will make others envious. JOMO comes from a place of abundance (everything, right now, is enough) while F

The lovely Linda Esposito, Brooke’s favourite psychotherapist, returns to the poggie today! Linda can always be relied on to cut through the BS that occasionally attaches itself to conversations about health, mindfulness and wellness, and today’s conversation is no different. Recently Linda posted on Instagram about the overcomplification of mindfulness and why we need to bring it back to its simplest form, and she and Brooke talk about that idea in today’s episode. They also talk about the importance of boredom and the benefits and value in simply not doing. Brooke also asks Linda a very common question: As we begin to make positive changes in our lives, as we begin to live more mindfully, why do we so often find ourselves feeling better in some ways but actually worse in others? Why do we feel more aware of the discomfort and overwhelm in our lives when we’re actively trying to reduce these things? And, importantly, what can we do about it? Head over to http://www.slowyourhome.com/17

On last Thursday's poggie Brooke and Ben went deep in to some upcoming changes in their life and have been completely blown away by your support and generosity as a result. From emails and travel suggestions to guest introductions and offers of accomodation, it's been incredible.  In today's show they talk briefly about that support, as well as the underlying thought that has been part of many of these changes - that we can't wait for things to be perfect before we act. The time is now.  Brooke recently shared one such thought over on Instagram, and uses it as the basis of today's poggie.  In it she wrote about embracing the moment, not being overly concerned with the aesthetics and not becoming trapped by the imperfections. She wrote specifically about swimming with the kids at the beach on a recent holiday and how the Brooke of a year ago would have sat it out, watching from afar. Instead, she raced down the sand and jumped in the surf alongside her family, and was rewarded ten-fold with laug

Today’s poggie is a hostful with a difference. This week it’s all about Brooke and Ben and the challenges they’ve been facing over the past few months, the changes they're making, what they mean for the show and what life is going to look like for them over the coming months. Ben and Brooke share that they’ve both been struggling, feeling overwhelmed and lost as they realised they needed to revisit their Why. A recent camping trip gave them the space and time to do that deep thinking, and today they share the decisions they came to and why they’re so excited about the next chapter. To get all the juicy details you’ll need to listen to the show, but essentially Ben and Brooke are going through another radical simplification. As part of that they’ve decided to dissolve Jackrabbit.FM and help each of the shows on the network to exist independently instead. Brooke will be focusing more on her writing (lots of news on that front in today’s show too) and, very excitin

In today's poggie, Carolyn Tate returns to talk about purpose. And while the current iteration of "purpose" seems to involve quitting your job, becoming a digital nomad and freelancing your way through life (all of which are valid choices!) Carolyn is here to talk about finding purpose in your current work.  So often the conversation about purpose revolves around huge changes, or the fact that big corporations simply aren't interested in creating workplaces of purpose or intention, but as someone who has worked for 15 years in the corporate sector and the past 10 years in small business, Carolyn believes that there are opportunities for purposeful work and living, regardless of vocation.  This is such an interesting conversation, and as always Carolyn has so many beautiful insights to share.  Head over to http://www.slowyourhome.com/175 for the full blog post and links to Carolyn's new book.  Enjoy!  ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rat

It’s been a while since Brooke has had a listener chat on the poggie and today’s episode is a gem. Brooke chats with Louisa from Western Australia about her personal journey from a hectic suburban existence to a life lived in a slow-paced coastal town. They talk about Lou’s experience of overwhelm and anxiety, as well as her post natal depression and eventual bipolar diagnosis, and how managing these issues and getting treatment for them has led her to a place of letting go. Not just letting go of stuff (that actually came later) but letting go of her plans, expectations, ideas and self-imposed obligations, and trusting that on the other side would be acceptance or peace or simplicity, or maybe even all three. In the end it was an unexpected job loss and a few months spent living in a camper trailer on the remote coast of Western Australia that delivered Lou to stillness, and she and Brooke explore what it looks like to pack up a big family house and go adventuring with no particular outcome

Ben and Brooke have spent the past few weeks discussing ways to reduce our plastics consumption. They've looked at doing away with single use plastics, talking to providers about non-plastic options and taking three for the sea every time we're out in nature. This week they round out this mini-series by encouraging you to re-think your purchases based on packaging.  Often we can find a similar product in non-plastic packaging, and the premise of this episode is very simple: buy the alternatives and avoid the plastic where possible.  They also encourage you to be vocal about your changes, letting brands know why you're no longer supporting them and what it would take for you to come back. Companies do pay attention to feedback from their customers - particularly if those customers begin to take their custom elsewhere - and it's by engaging in these conversations that we're going to see change not only at the grassroots level but also from the top levels of organisations.  Hopefully this series h

In this week’s plastics episode, Ben and Brooke take their inspiration directly from an organisation they're very very fond of: Take 3 for the Sea. Founded by surfing enthusiast, Amanda Marechal, marine ecologist, Roberta Dixon-Valk and environmentalist, Tim Silverwood, Take 3 is based on the very simple idea that small actions can have a big impact. And considering Plastic-Free July has begun, Ben and Brooke figured this would be a great time to talk about this very simple idea that lies at the heart of Take 3: Simply Take 3 pieces of rubbish with you when you leave the beach, waterway or… anywhere. Every time you go out in to nature - be it the beach, a bushwalk, the park or river - pick up three pieces of rubbish and put them in the bin. It’s that simple.   Head over to http://www.slowyourhome.com/174 for the full post and a list of resources mentioned in today’s show. Enjoy! ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review i

Last week Ben and Brooke introduced a new four-part Monday series dealing with plastics. Specifically, how to use less of them in day to day life. They covered the Big 4 - straws, drink bottles, takeaway coffee cups and plastic shopping bags - and offered a whole heap of solutions to help you live a Plastic Free July (and August, and September and so on…)  This week they’re encouraging you to get a little awkward. When Brooke and Ben first started to make a concerted effort to reduce their plastic use it became clear quite quickly that it wasn’t going to simply happen. Providers weren’t going to read their minds, they weren’t going to offer plastic-free alternatives without any prompting, and they certainly weren’t going to know alternatives were desired at all unless people started the conversation. What they’ve learnt over the past 12 months of cutting back is that in order to see change, people need to be willing to make change. And sometimes that means being

In today’s episode Brooke sits down to chat with Rebecca Sullivan - founder of the ‘granny skills’ movement, serial entrepreneur, food lover and sustainability advocate. In what can only be described as an utterly delightful conversation, Brooke and Rebecca talk about traditions, heritage and the importance of intergenerational connection, as well as how to make the perfect blush for less than $1. After coming to the realisation that she was completely removed from the process of creating and growing her own food (something to do with cheese and maggots in a small Italian town) Rebecca began the process of educating herself. From that realisation has grown a career of incredible depth and breadth, covering food, traditional skills, agriculture, creating natural homemade products and recently a pilot program that placed grandparents in local schools. This program saw older people teaching kids traditional skills around cooking and woodworking, which not only had an incredibly positive impact

Last year Ben and Brooke tried their hand at Plastic Free July. They tried to cut their use of plastics to zero for a full month, alongside tens of thousands of other counter-cultural, environmentally-minded souls. And… it was a bit of a bust. The truth is that they were vastly unprepared. They hadn’t really thought through their daily needs or systems, and hadn’t gathered the required replacements for many of their plastics, which meant they were left high and dry when time came to go food shopping. Or buying takeaway. Or grabbing a coffee. Or living, really. Over the next four Mondays they’re going to take a deep dive in to the issue of excessive plastic use and what small changes you can make - starting today - to reduce plastic use over time. In part this series is timed to coincide with Plastic Free July, but also because there is an emerging desire for change that wasn’t apparent even this time last year. Mostly people are just overwhelmed and confused by where to begin, a

Just so you know straight off the bat, today’s episode is BIG. It’s packed full of practical tips and it moves prettttty fast. But it’s valuable, practical and, even better, it’s going to help you have a positive impact on the planet and your bank balance. Big talk, eh? But this is a big show. In a little under an hour Ben and Brooke offer you 50 ways to reduce food waste in your own home, and it’s quite literally packed full of things you can do today. OK, probably not all of them today, but there is at least one idea in this episode for you to apply today. Guaranteed. And there’s no purchase of backyard chickens necessary. Ben’s got some astonishing stats to share in this episode, but needless to say, the level of food waste in Australia alone is eye-wateringly high. And given what we know about food security in the developing world, and even many communities in our own backyard, it’s truly devastating to think about. And while some of this waste is a result o

Today is the third and final episode in our meditation basics series and Kevin Janks is back for one final, insightful meditation mini-workshop. In today’s workshop Kevin talks us through the notion of present moment awareness. That is, what it looks like to practice living specifically and solely in the present moment, by training ourselves to pay attention to each of our senses, one at a time. He talks us through the following ideas and then leads you through a brief guided meditation where you’ll have the opportunity to practice what you’ve learnt: This practise is all about being in the moment, simply because our senses are only ever in the moment (you can't be touching something yesterday). By noticing what’s actually happening in our lives right now, we can liberate ourselves from the state of constant 'rehearse and replay' that at times dominates our lives. With practice, it quickly becomes quite easy to draw joy and love from even the most basic of events, like feeling the sun

In this episode Brooke chats with Helen Hayward - an author, freelance writer and psychotherapist who lives on a beautiful old property in Hobart and embraces a slow family life in almost every way. And while Helen’s most recent book, ‘A Slow Childhood: Notes on Thoughtful Parenting’ is, obviously, about parenting and raising a family, so much of what Helen and Brooke speak about in today’s poggie applies well beyond motherhood and parenting. They talk a lot about what it means to live an examined life, and why, as they’ve both discovered over the past years, the little things really are the big things. And they also talk about the realities of encouraging (or keeping) older kids engaged with the idea of a slower, simpler life, as well as the benefits of boredom (or non-stimulation, as Helen calls it).  Brooke also raises one of her favourite bug-bears: the myth of work-life balance and Helen discusses why she’s not even sure long-term balance is a possibility. It's an

Kevin Janks is back this week with the second mini-meditation workshop, and this week he’s helping you focusing on your emotions. In today’s mini workshop, Kevin he talks through the physical sensations of our emotions - where we feel things like love or anger or anxiety in our bodies - and how to begin to notice the thought commentary that comes along with those feelings, as being distinct from the sensations themselves. He also talks about the following ideas: Just like we are not our thoughts, we are also not our emotions Emotions (feelings) are made up of bodily sensations and usually accompanied by thought patterns/stories By distinguishing between the sensations (emotion) and thoughts, and observing 'us' as distinct from it all, our lives can change as we begin to take apart their power over us. No longer will we identify with "being an angry/sad/frustrated/etc person Rather, we can simply observe these emotions as they pass through us. In everyday life, begin to observe the emotions that p