Instant Gratification
Last week we went over some more slow henna practice and applications. Slow henna is a concept that has shown popularity recently, but it isn't something new. People have been defending the value of slowness for the last 200 years--think of the Romantics or the Transcendentalists, or even the hippies from the sixties. The idea of a Slow Movement seeks to blend fast and slow, in order to help people work, live, and play better in the modern world. The Slow Food movement helped to recapture the word "slow" as something positive--concentrating more on food, and slowing down the process to enjoy food as a blessing, instead of a task to accomplish.
Slow has become a universal label to explain the benefits of doing everything at the right speed--eating or making food, doing work, making love, educating yourself, etc.
The need for instant gratification in the henna world has created the dangerous "black henna." Making the ancient art of henna something that can be done quicker, better, and be just as great as the real stuff but in less time, with less effort, with less waiting. Let's take a moment and remember that fast is not always good. Slow down, take a minute, let the artist do his/her magic.
It seems that in the last 150 years (since the Industrial Revolution), we have been trying to do everything faster and faster, in order to accomplish more in less time. However, with everything being faster, our speed has now turned into doing more harm than good. Today, we are addicted to speed, and want everything immediately. The age of instant gratification. We want to cram more things into every minute. We multitask constantly. We are racing every day against the clock to get to a finish line that we never seem to reach. And in turn, we start to sacrifice our relationships, our health, our culture, our communities, and the environment. This is the reason why the Slow Movement is important.
This is why Slow Henna is the best thing you can do for your own spirit. So share your slow henna experience on Instagram with #slowhenna and see what your henna peers are up to as well! Going slow lets you practice techniques that may need brushing up, or design motifs that you aren't completely comfortable with. Going slow takes away the pressure and lets you do what you love--spreading the henna love. Slow down! Smell the coffee, or the flowers, and let the birds chirp and fly. Go Slow.
