SLOW. It’s okay for things to take time. We can be efficient and productive in our outer life, but our souls can only go so fast. In North America, slow is a counter cultural word. There is nothing good about slow in the eyes of this fast-moving, go-go-go culture. Yet our soul can only go as fast as the speed of transformation. Transformation takes time. So it is good to accept that and allow the inner pace of our lives to move at that speed.
Gem and Alan Fadling, An Unhurried Life
Living an Unhurried Life
This conversation on Living an Unhurried Life with Authors Gem and Alan Fadling was FUN and FIERCE.
From the moment I happened upon Alan’s book, An Unhurried Life, way back in 2013, I’ve followed everything he and Gem do. I desperately needed to understand how “hurry was costing me more than I realize.”
Eight years later and I understand FAR MORE than I did at that time.
Especially when it concerns my mental and emotional health.
I’ve been addicted to adrenaline since the 4th-grade talent show at Norfolk Highlands Elementary. I was new to the school. Tall. Very pale. Redheaded. Not so cute. AND, “the new girl” in the classroom. My family had just moved to Chesapeake from Camp LeJeune, NC, and life was a bit awkward and challenging, to say the least.
But, when I stepped onto the small stage and twirled and whirled my shiny baton, life changed. I heard the applause and became unknowingly addicted to how that applause made me feel inside. Suddenly, I felt seen and that felt really good.
Human Undoing Leads to Human Being
I’m taking away two profound thoughts from my conversation with the Fadling’s:
- How incredibly important “undoing” is on the journey towards wholeness. When you have a minute or two, take time to listen to Season 3’s: Unlearning with Meditative Exercise, The Waiting Room. I believe it holds an even deeper conversation on how we can begin “undoing” or “unlearning.”
- How incredibly important “pace” is when it comes to our personal transformation. Nature reflects and images this EVERY SINGLE DAY. For more on “pace” and “tempo,” visit these posts from our archives: A MORE PEACEFUL TEMPO and THE HIGH CALLING.
An Invitation to Living an Unhurried Life
As the episode came to a close, Gem shared a beautiful life lesson she learned from “sea lilies,” written in her book, “What Does the Soul Love?”
She writes, “Like the sea lily, our desires can sometimes hide, deep down inside of us. Desire can be a beautiful, delicate creature that we are unaware of unless we go on a relentless search of our inner depths. Like the scientists and great thinkers of the past, we may not believe there is anything deep inside of us. We see no evidence of our desires at the higher depths and so we don’t go exploring. She then asks this poignant question, “What would it be like for you to go on your own spiritual submersive exploration to glimpse what is in your deepest levels of desire?”
She then offers us EIGHT questions:
- Desire: What do you really want?
- Resistance: What is getting in your way?
- Vulnerability: Where are you hiding?
- Truth: What is most real to you?
- Pain: How are you suffering?
- Fear: What are you afraid of?
- Control: What are you clinging to?
- Joy: What does your soul love?
So much food for thought, right? After you listen or watch the episode, share your thought with us, right here on the blog OR in our private online FB community: Stronger Every Day.
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