Wear Mastery Strategies: Slow Shopping

Inspired by Mark David's talk at the Natural Food Expo 2009  (www.psychologyofeating.com), I started to think about when it is actually necessary to consciously slow down. His thesis is that mostly digestive and weight problems, cravings and food addictions are caused by stress.  He suggested that one minute of deeper breathing before eating, helps the body to switch from a Fight or Flight Response state to relaxation, which then enables the body to truly absorb and digest the food. Eating slower, savoring, taking pleasure in the process surely benefits the health of our body and minds.

How many of our clothes have been bought on an impulse and in a fast or hurried manner? Perhaps the price was right (the average American's first criteria for purchasing clothing) and then a couple of other criteria seemed to be fulfilled, like acceptable color and roughly the right size. 

Millions of shoppers don't even take the time anymore to try clothes on and often don't take the time to return the item if it doesn't fit.

Slow shopping means that we allow ourselves to feel the piece of clothing from the outside and inside, to touch it, to try it on, to really look at it, check the quality and the material, to walk in it through the store, to look at ourselves, to envision a couple of occasions we could wear it, to check if we can combine it with other wardrobe pieces, to breathe in it deeply for one minute before making the decision. Slow shopping inevitably leads to less in quantity but more refined in quality consumption.