There are new movements, and then there are new movements. How about something called The Art of Living Slowly? This organization, begun in Italy by Bruno Contigiani, is spreading rapidly! (Is that a contradiction in terms?)

You can find a lot of websites that are part of the “slow movement.” I just bought a cookbook called The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen and have one called Slow Cooking: Not So Fast Food on my wish list.

There was a Slow Day—on a Monday of all days—in New York City recently, modeling itself on the World Slow Day that occurred earlier in Italy. During World Slow Day people received citations for walking too fast. Participants in a Slow Day marathon attempted to travel 656 feet without stopping, in no less than an hour and 27 minutes. People walking through the center of the city during rush hour had their speedy movement halted when someone stopped them to hand them a poem.

Bruno Contigiani has written what he calls The Slowmandments. Here are a few of his suggestions:

Wake up five minutes earlier than usual so you have time to shave, do your make up and have breakfast without hurrying.

While queuing at the supermarket or in traffic, relax; don’t get angry; try to use your time for planning your day (in traffic) or talking to your neighbor in line (at the store).

When you enter a café, make a habit of saying hello to the waiter before ordering; and, after enjoying your coffee, remember to say goodbye (this rule works for all stores, offices and in the elevator.)

Avoid being so busy and full of work that you don’t have time for yourself and the delight of thinking about nothing.

Write your text messages on your cell phone with no symbols or abbreviations and get in the habit of starting the text message with “Dear …”

(If you want to read the full list of The Slowmandments, google Slowmandments and you will find the list on line.)

There’s a book called “In Praise of Slow: Challenging the Cult of Speed” (by Carl Honoré and published by HarperOne), that talks about many different types of slow movements, including Slow Food and The Society for the Deceleration of Time (a civic group based in Austria that once called on Olympics organizers to award gold medals to athletes who had the slowest times.)

I must say that since reading the Slowmandments, I have found myself starting to remember some of them. I began a text message to my niece the other day, “Dear Ashlie.” My husband and I have taken a week off from watching the nightly news, going into the library instead (where there is no television.) Slow Movement appeals to me. I hope I find more ways as time goes on to put slow movement principles into practice. It will be counter-cultural for all of us. And it will, I’m predicting, be most restorative.

Dr. Elizabeth Harper Neeld offers wisdom and practical insights to anyone whose life is in a time of transition, change, grief and loss of any kind. As an internationally recognized and accomplished consultant, and author of more than twenty books - including Tough Transitions and Seven Choices: Finding Daylight After Loss Shatters Your World - she is committed to work that helps lift the human spirit.