So, what does ‘slow living’ mean in a Lotusland context?
Well, slow living is an attempt to encapsulate an intentional way of living, one that moves away from the culture of hustle and lands in a more co-operative place.
Whilst it may be a move away from the rat race, the levels of productivity and innovation aren’t any less. It’s just that the metrics of success are reimagined, the goal posts moved and the bar set differently.
It’s a conscious, sustainable approach to life, one that’s mindful of our natural resources and that looks for the beauty in the everyday.
As such we feature people, places and experiences that are living out these ideals in beautiful, interesting and inspiring ways.
Lotusland is a product both of the great pause and my great pause. ‘The’ of course being the pandemic and mine being a long term illness that happened to coincide with the pandemic. A double handbrake if you like, and for the most part, I didn’t.
I spent the majority of the time away from the city, deep in the Kent countryside. What that time did afford me (or force from me) was time to look around and observe what was all around me, ie nature.
The magazine is broadly divided into travel, art & design, and lifestyle. Underpinning those subject areas are the themes that many of us have been drawn to as we slowed down: the natural world and it’s extraordinary, ordinary, everyday unfolding. In our rush to create our perfect lives, it appears we may have missed the perfection already around us.
The human layer on top are the stories of the people who live and work closer to the natural rhythms. People whose lives and businesses are based less on the hustle and more on enduring values, such as community, sustainability, education and regeneration.
Following the pandemic there was talk of ‘the Great Resignation’. Whether that has come to pass or not I don’t honestly know but I think what the idea spoke to was a yearning for a simpler way of living; one more attuned to the planet and it’s needs.
As Lotusland shapes itself, it seems the stories it features are largely a response to that.
Pete Bartlett – Editor