Zen Living

Everyone knows life moves a little more slowly in the developing world than in developed countries, so it’s a cliché to say it takes longer to get things done in Brazil. From an American perspective, Brazilians are never in a hurry. Conveniently, it’s impossible to be late in Brazil because if you are, nobody notices. The relaxed Brazilian approach to time is an old story, deeper than a cliché, more like a myth.

The irony of clichés is they are so obvious people tend to forget them. Nevertheless, there is poetry in the ability of Brazilians to formulate schedules and face deadlines with a less-than-rigid attitude. They view Americans as time-obsessed. Brazilians have an inherent faith that everything will work out in the end, and if it seems things have not worked out, it’s because you haven’t yet reached the end. Patience.

Travel guides for Latin America warn North Americans to expect delays; the infrastructure is less developed. Tourists should be prepared for incomprehensible bureaucracy, and the requisite long lines and frustration that accompany it. Americans view Brazilians as lacking organizational skills. Likewise, Brazilians envy life in the more systematized, fast-paced developed world.

So why does life move more slowly in Latin America than in the US or northern Europe? When I posed this question to Brazilians, I got some interesting responses. My mother-in-law grew up in a small town on the coast of Brazil called Antonina. She lives in Curitiba now and can’t comprehend how life could possibly be any faster. She thinks it’s my imagination when I tell her Brazil is slower than the US, and she blames my distorted perspective on homesickness, known as saudade in Portuguese.

Some people think warmer weather encourages slowness, and they honestly believe warm weather is essential to happiness. I heard a young Brazilian woman who had been living in Paris say, “Paris is cold and gray in the winter. Many people commit suicide because of the melancholy caused by the cold weather.”

The theory of warm-weather slowness could apply to the north of Brazil and its equatorial regions, but what about Curitiba in the south, where temperatures occasionally reach freezing, or Chile and Argentina where it snows? I believe life moves more slowly in developing countries for another reason that has nothing to do with the weather. People from all cultures and climes would prefer to move more slowly.

What rational human being welcomes stress and frustration, or the anxiety of trying to navigate through rush-hour traffic? People who are forced to deal with constant stress, which can blossom into a life-threatening disease, are those who have no choice. They accept anxiety and speed in their lives as an unavoidable consequence of living in a developed country.

Similarly, people in countries like Brazil move more slowly because they, too, have no choice.There are the long lines at the supermarket and the lottery ticket office. The paperwork involved in getting a driver’s license or opening a business is complicated and Byzantine.

Someone who grows up in Brazil is accustomed to delays and circuitous routes to completion. Looking for shortcuts is so common there's a term for it, the jeitinho braziliero (the Brazilian way). Patience is learned at an early age, even by children, who must wait an entire year before they can enjoy their favorite cake, panettone, which is only available at Christmas.

It’s no surprise, then, that the Portuguese fits beautifully with the Brazilian relaxed approach. It takes longer to say something in Portuguese than English, which has more words and thus is more precise. Additionally, it’s rude for a Brazilian to address a subject directly. His words will dance around the topic, playing with its rhythms and inflections because a good story inevitably takes longer to tell.

Does the structure of the Portuguese language reflect a slower culture, or is Brazil a slower culture because the language necessitates it? Whatever the answer, the myth is still intact. Whether it’s the weather, the language, the lines at the supermarket, or the natural rhythm of humanity, life is slower in Brazil.

The message beneath the myth is that the slow lane is the fast lane to happiness – less speed means less stress and that equals more time for fun and relaxation. Enjoying one day at a time with less focus on timeliness is the Brazilian way. It's this country's version of Zen living, being in the moment, and appreciating each day with patience and gratefulness.

This essay appeared under another title and in slightly different form on Brazzil.com.