The Tortoise with Brooke McAlary

Welcome to the second episode of the Summer Series (/Winter Warmies!) For all of January, we’ll be bringing back the best of 2018, re-sharing some of our favourite episodes to keep you company on the beach (or the slopes!) Today we’re highlighting one of Brooke’s most inspiring picks of the year - her interview with Rob Greenfield. Rob is a self-described ‘dude making a dif...

Happy New Year, and welcome to the first episode of the Summer Series (Winter Warmies!) For all of January, we’ll be bringing back the best of 2018, re-sharing some of our favourite episodes to keep you company on the beach (or the slopes!) We’re kicking off by harking back to Brooke and Ben’s favourite experiment of 2018, and an episode that came just after it: Brooke’s ch...

Cue the jazzy Christmas tunes - it’s our final episode of the year! Welcome to the crowd-sourced holiday special, where we share your tips for staying slow in the silly season (and throw in some of our own). Thank you so much to everyone who got in touch - we loved reading through your responses, and hearing all the different ways you not only cope with, but enjoy what can be a stressful tim...

We’re back! Thanks for hanging tight with us over the final few weeks of the book tour. In today’s episode, Brooke and Ben check in and catch us up on how they’re feeling and what’s happening next, as well as sharing a reminder about A Simple Year and the special offer available until 14 Nov (more info at slowyourhome.com/simpleyear ). The guys kick off by looking back at t...

Welcome to this week’s episode - a catch up on all things travel with Brooke and Ben after their US Slow book tour. They received so many questions about the logistics of their trip, so today they dive into them all, talking the how, where and why of their time away so far. First up they talk about how they managed to do the tour - the decisions they made and steps they took in order to pack...

We're not gonna lie, after some 17,000 miles, 29 US states and more than 35 incredible, heart-warming events, the Slow book tour is all wrapped up, and we're a little tired. But before we put a bow on what's been an incredible experience we want to share one final live recording with you, because it's a special one. The tour finished up in Minneapolis, where Brooke sat down for a conversation with...

After a few technical hiccups Brooke and Ben were finally able to record one of their live podcast recordings while on the Slow book tour, and today's episode was recorded live at Anderson's Bookshop near Chicago.  The crowd was really engaged and Ben and Brooke had such a wonderful time talking about Slow, the practical realities of slow living and family life, their experience while travell...

It’s the last Slow Experiment episode for September! For the final week of Mindful Moments, Brooke and Ben look at journaling as way to bring a pocket of slow and mindfulness to a busy day. It’s no secret that Ben is not the biggest journaler alive (see: the great journaling experiment of 2016), but by the end of the episode even he is convinced to give it another crack. Maybe. Brooke...

It’s week three of the Mindful Moments Slow Experiment, and today’s episode is all about gratitude as a tool for mindfulness. For Ben, the importance of cultivating gratitude has been one of the biggest lessons he’s learned from slow living. For Brooke, gratitude is an invaluable way to prevent that shift into negative thinking that can happen when life is busy or stressful. It&r...

In this week’s episode Brooke and Ben continue their month of Mindful Moments for the Slow Experiment, looking at the technique of mindful attention or observation. This is something that Brooke has been practicing for a few years now, and is an excellent example of just how simple mindfulness can be. At its core, mindfulness is paying attention, and this technique takes that to a granular l...

It’s a new month, and a new Slow Experiment. Hooray! For September, Brooke and Ben are playing with Mindful Moments, and invite you to do the same. This is probably the most accessible experiment of all time, and in this episode they share their intentions for the month and explain how you can start to bring more mindfulness into your daily life. For Brooke and Ben, mindfulness is all about...

The Slow book tour rolls on this week, and in this poggie Brooke sits down to chat with her irrerepressible and inspiring mate Jess Davis - a Brooklyn-dwelling tech ethicist, slow living advocate and founder of Folk Rebellion.  This episode was recorded at Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn in August, and during the conversation and Q&A session Brooke and Jess talk through the meaning of sl...

This week we’re coming to you live from Austin, where Brooke sat down with longtime friend of the show Tsh Oxenreider as part of the Slow Book Tour. It was their second ever IRL meeting, and they dive into all things slow, values, balance and more, as well as answering some thoughtful questions from the readers and listeners at BookPeople. Brooke and Tsh share similar views on how it’s...

It’s the first live episode from the Slow Book Tour! This week we’re listening to Brooke’s chat with the one and only Courtney Carver, from the King's English bookstore in Salt Lake City. Brooke and Courtney have been working together for many years, and while they’ve exchanged countless emails and Skype chats, this was their first meeting IRL. Their conversation covers wha...

Welcome to this week’s fast’n’loose hostful episode. Brooke and Ben get through what must be a record number of your questions, on everything from slow living in fast cities to travelling on a budget. A big thank you to everyone who submitted their thoughtful questions - we’re looking forward to continuing the conversations with you all on social media after listening! Ben...

We’re onto the last of our slow relationships episodes, and this week is all about new friends: where to find them and how to get from barely know each other to BFF, slowly. It’s all about taking the time, being intentional and paying attention, as well as discovering the joy of spending time with people based on what’s important to you rather than the situation you find yourself...

This week we’re continuing the relationships theme, looking at existing friendships: not only how to maintain them, but how to deepen them. There’s no question that as time goes on and big life milestones pass, friendships change and some fade. But one of the biggest things we stand to lose by living a busy, un-intentional life is the relationships that have the potential to be deep an...

It’s week two of our month of slow and relationships, and this episode we’re looking at family: kids, parents, siblings, and all those broader relationships (including those friends that feel more like favourite cousins) that make up the family tree. They’re not always neat and tidy, but hopefully there will be something in this episode that resonates with you, whatever your fami...

Annnnd we’re back. It’s the first week of July, and while we’re due for a Slow Experiment, thanks to book tour commitments and a tight travel schedule, Brooke and Ben are taking the pressure off. Instead, July will be a deep dive into bringing slow to relationships. Romantic, family and friendships old and new, each week the guys will be exploring ways you can create deeper conne...

Our guest on the podcast this week is Anita Van Dyke: zero waste activist, literal rocket scientist, medical student, author and all-round breath of fresh air. Anita brings a new, more practical perspective to the zero waste lifestyle, and in this episode she and Brooke talk about her journey to living a zero waste life, the impact of her cultural and familial upbringing, tips for helping people g...

The spotlight is on Ben in today’s episode, as Brooke interviews him all about his journey from working a stressful, corporate job to being self-employed, and how he continues to make choices to live a slower life. We’ve had a few listeners ask to hear more about Ben’s story, and we’re sure it will feel relevant to a lot of people. Ben describes himself as a couple of years...

In today’s episode, Brooke sits down for a chat with Rob Greenfield, a self-described ‘dude making a difference’. He’s an activist, environmentalist and legend - a guy who is very good at raising people’s awareness of an issue by doing big, bold things to grab your attention, like collecting the amount of rubbish the average American creates in a month, and strapping...

In today’s episode, Brooke and Ben sit down to wrap up the May creativity Slow Experiment, sharing what they’ve learned, how they’ve felt, changes they’ve noticed and some eye-opening research they’ve discovered about the benefits of creativity. They go deep and ask the tough questions, and encourage you to do the same if you’re reflecting on your month of creat...

It’s the fourth week of the creativity Slow Experiment, and Brooke and Ben are feeling good. Today’s episode is all about play and creativity - forgetting about output and audience, and doing something just for the joy of it. It’s something that Brooke finds particularly challenging, and she and Ben explore why that is, before diving into perfectionism, ideas of worth, courage an...

Brooke and Ben are knee-deep in the May Slow Experiment, and in this episode they explore what daily creativity has looked like for them so far, ideas around challenge and play, as well as looking more closely at analog and digital when it comes to the creative process. Brooke shares the unexpected impact of the experiment so far - the shift in headspace she’s experienced, which sees her com...