陳鵬文 | President
Gratitude to all our members, gratitude to the board, gratitude to heaven, earth and every human heart.
Our Team
Gratitude to all our members, gratitude to the board, gratitude to heaven, earth and every human heart.
Modern life is mostly a rush — busy with work, busy with children, busy with family — with hardly any room to breathe.
Breathing slowly is a simple place to start. When the breath slows, the heart opens, and the pace of everything we do grows calmer too.
In this fast-paced society, I hope that through the society we can share this experience, so that more people have the chance to pause, notice what is within, feel their lives, and truly bring "slow" into everyday life.
I am so glad to join this big family and, together with all of you, to live well, slowly ☺️
Following Google Maps, I came slowly, from south to north; I passed through the Maoli Hakka Academy, parked the car, and slowly walked in.
Carrying a basket, I followed the slope down, step by step, breathing slowly; I circled the pomelo orchard, smelling the blossoms, tree by tree, blade by blade, reading slowly.
The owner smiled as she told us this was the wide and lovely land her ancestors left behind: below the power lines lies Tongluo Township, above them, Miaoli City.
Hearing this, I suddenly realised what the two half-hidden sentry posts by the entrance meant: without knowing it, I had returned to the camp of my hard years of military service. The mailbox with its unit number was called Dapingding, and winding below was the Houlong River.
This was a silent yet immense calling, calling me back thirty-four years to the bitter beginning of my bond with this mountain town — where young lives were lost after the sound of gunfire, and where spirits grew strong through training; what was once a bodily confinement I longed to flee became, after I left, a homeland of the heart I keep returning to.
This, too, is a wondrous and rare connection that has led me through thirty-four years — a little less naïve, a little more at ease, filling in many gaps, drawing closer to a circle — so that I can cross the line between self and other and meet good friends from every direction with joy. It will be a shared learning that helps us practise again the order of everyday life, and a shared vow to re-imagine what life can be.
In schools, I have come to understand the curriculum as a text of life — a text that can shape a child's true nature and let their own spirit shine;
On this island, I have solemnly marked education as a work of hope — a work that can build the beams and pillars of our society, rising step by step.
Yet such step-by-step rising, such shining spirit, is like the upright trunk and swaying form of a tree: it must be gathered over mornings and evenings, and waited for with time.
Its hidden secret lies in the growth rings. Wide rings are a hurried sketch; tight rings are what settles when we slow down.
And so we understand: only slowness lets time truly live out the depth and splendour of life.
I like to spend time with myself slowly, and to mark who I once was with memory. With these words I humbly express the long journey of a salmon returning upstream, and the deep wish that seeds may grow into a forest.
In an age that keeps accelerating, many of us are pushed along by time — our hearts stuck in past regrets and suspended over a future that has not yet come — and so we lose the present. Even our breathing becomes hurried, until we forget ourselves.
I joined the Slow Living Education Society not because I believe slowness is an escape, but because I believe that only by slowing down can we truly come back.
When someone is willing to breathe slowly, that breath becomes a calling — gathering the scattered self back and settling the restless heart. Then we no longer drift but can rest; the heart is no longer clouded but gradually grows clear. In such moments we are present again, and we begin to see others.
Yet if slowness stops at settling the individual, it has not yet fulfilled its meaning. Slow living matters not because it slows us down, but because of how it leads us towards others and helps us understand anew, through our relationships, the world we live in.
When we return to ourselves, we begin to see others; when we see each other, relationships are no longer just passing by, but start to have response and warmth. And so a subtle, genuine connection gradually grows in everyday life and spreads outwards — from one person to many, from one place to the wider world.
I hope the Slow Living Education Society can be such a beginning — where people can meet again in slowness; where hearts can reconnect through awareness; where more understanding replaces division, more empathy grows into trust, and the world need not always be in such a hurry.
Slow living is not standing still. It is a way of finding our inner rhythm amid the noise and of settling body and mind amid the busyness. In an age of fast pace and dramatic change, being able to choose to slow down is a kind of happiness.
Starting from "cherishing the companions we walk with" — learning together, talking together, encouraging and accompanying one another — this is the warmest strength that keeps us going, and the most beautiful practice in life.
Breathing is the most fundamental rhythm of life; eating in tune with nature and the seasons is the wisdom of living with heaven and earth; and social and emotional learning helps us understand ourselves better and be more accepting of others in our relationships. These are the society's three main areas going forward — not just learning knowledge, but a way of life that can be practised, felt and shared.
When we are willing to breathe slowly, we see the present more clearly; when we are willing to walk slowly together, we can go further and more steadily.
Thank you all for your support. I look forward to working with you so that slow living education can take root in Taiwan, and so that, through our efforts, more people find the strength to settle body and mind. May we, in each other's company, walk this path without haste or worry, gently and firmly, and discover together the beauty of life.
Breathe slowly, walk together slowly — all is well. Thank you, everyone!
I am delighted to have been elected a director of the Slow Living Education Society of Taiwan. This honour feels like a gentle invitation, reminding me to slowly see my original intention amid the noise. In an age when everything demands speed, we choose to walk slowly, think slowly and feel slowly — as if going against the river of time, yet coming closer to the essence of life.
I am honoured to have found companions who are willing to let their hearts slow down. Walking together like this is quiet, yet profound. Together we slowly listen to the subtle and true voices of the world, and slowly bring to life the precious stories that are so often overlooked.
The world may keep rushing forward, but within it we choose to slowly shine, and quietly grow a strength of our own.
In an age of information overload and endless comparison, we work hard to live a good life, yet the confusion of so many messages leaves us exhausted in body and mind, and we lose the ability to be happy.
The more people in our society who can slow down and find happiness again, the more peaceful our society will be.
I am very glad that such a group of like-minded people is willing to walk together. May the society exist for the good of all, like a bright lamp shining its light everywhere.
I am honoured to join this warm, big family, my heart full of gratitude and hope. Thank you for this meeting, which gives me the chance to use the scents I love to accompany and heal more people.
May we all, by breathing slowly, learn to be gentle with ourselves, and in everyday life, little by little, find our original selves again. I look forward to walking the road ahead with you, slowly getting better together.
Together, let's breathe slowly~ and slowly learn to love ourselves
In the first half of life: busy, busy, busy; hurry, hurry, hurry. In the second half: learning to slow down, to live slowly.
Learning across generations, making friends regardless of age; living healthily and happily, growing old in our own community.
Remember to be a little kinder to yourself — slowing down is also a way of life we need to learn.
Miaoli already has two internationally certified Cittaslow towns: Sanyi and Nanzhuang. I hope the society will, in the years ahead, slowly blossom and spread its leaves in every township of Miaoli, and across Taiwan.
May Taiwan become — Formosa · 福爾摩沙 a beautiful island of slow living.
In the midst of busy lives, a group of people proposed giving our busy bodies and minds a chance to hit the brakes — to slow down and listen to our own bodies and hearts, to notice the family and friends around us, our colleagues, even friends around the world — and so developed a way of life: breathe slowly, live slowly, slowly… All is well!
"Slow living" is about to become a signpost everyone needs: slowing down lets us see more clearly, walk more steadily and live more healthily.
I am grateful for the chance to be part of the society and to share and learn together with you all.
Breathing slowly and massaging slowly are the good temper I have cultivated since joining the Slow Living Education Society of Taiwan. They have helped me understand my own temperament — a head-to-toe practice of caring for body, mind and spirit.
I want to offer a little care and involvement to my family, my friends and society.
The low mood of modern life comes from the different flow of qi and blood in each of us, which creates obstacles in daily life. Body and spirit need to be brought into harmony for everything to flow, and so we all seek the company of good-tempered people.
But good-tempered people are not easy to find. So let us all cultivate a good temper together, and look after it with wisdom!
This is the path I have found in the Slow Living Education Society of Taiwan!
Developing this "product" — a good temper — is the best remedy for easing the anxiety and low mood of our world!
Eat slowly, and truly savour your food; walk slowly, and truly take in the beautiful scenery.
Born in an age of fast-moving technology, let us live the good life of "slow".
I am so happy to enjoy every moment slowly, together with you all.