Is the world too busy or is it just my mind?
I've been wanting to read this book for a long long time, but only a couple of weeks ago I found it at my local library. Without hesitation, I borrowed it. The title might give away a whole vibe of the book, yet I found the story-telling aspect just wasn’t there. Perhaps because the author is also known for his motivational tweets, so the book contains many quotes scattered throughout. Don't get me wrong, the quotes are motivating and inspiring, but I think it's just too much that the actual story of each chapter feels very short.
“The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down” is written by Haemin Sunim, a Zen Buddhist teacher. The book discusses many things we need to understand to navigate life, such as passion, relationships, love, future, even spirituality. The author writes each chapter based on his own life experiences and the reflections he got from it. But as I’ve mentioned, the book is filled with many inspiring quotes on each topic. I personally wish we could have seen more of the author’s experiences, because he himself is a Zen Buddhist teacher, so I think that would have been most fitting for the title of the book.
But still, some of the chapters are very well-written, making us reflect on our own way of living. One is titled Rest, which asks something like “why am I always so busy?”. It's like grabbing you from the beggining, and I can’t help but try to answer it myself. Why? Do you guys have any answer to why we are always so busy? This chapter is really interesting to me because it discusses how the world doesn't objectively feel happiness or sadness, which then creates the same feelings in us. Rather, it's more like those feelings originate from our own inner selves, projecting their subjective experiences onto the outside world.
The book also touches on how when we’re happy, our heart is open to new things, but when we’re feeling down, we're unwilling to open ourselves to new things (at all). It just makes me wonder if perhaps that's why when we feel stressed or even depressed, instead of seeking any form of help, some of us choose to isolate ourselves even more. The author actually suggests that when we have negative emotions, instead of being reactive about it, we can just try to calmly wait it. That way, we will be able to see those emotions slowly changing form, either showing other, deeper emotions or disappearing on their own.
Another chapter even discusses how some good intentions sometimes end up being the opposite. I think the author talks about his time when he was teaching a lecture and wants his students to gain as much insights as possible. Some implementations are actually to give his students more work so that they can learn more and more. The intention is great, but the result isn’t always linier. It’s written something like no matter how effective a medicine is, if we make others take it, it will taste like poison. I learn from it and wonder how often we unintentionally complicate a situation simply because we wanted to help or give some advices.
I don’t actually remember much from the Spirituality chapter, but there is a part that just stuck with me: "We will realize that the love taught by Jesus is no different from the compassion taught by the Buddha." I'm not Christian, Catholic, or Buddhist; I’m a Muslim myself, but that line really got me. Perhaps one of the things we can see only when we slow down is actually the fact that there’s always something greater than ourselves and even bigger than this world where we constantly worry. I think the author wants the readers to look deeper into themselves and find that “spirit”, whatever it might be.
There's a beautifully written sentence in this book which says "When our minds rest, the world rests too." I mean, that’s true, right? Sometimes I wonder what we are really striving for in this world. Is it happiness? But happiness is a feeling, isn’t it? So, we actually can choose to feel it at any time. I know it’s always easier said than done, but the question, as the author writes in this book, is do we want to feel happy or just want to look happy? In this era of social media where people seem to compete to be the happiest, I don’t even know how to answer it. What do you think?
Thanks for reading btw, appreciate it! :) How about you, what is The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down?
wow! I'm amazed by what's inside those books, it makes me think now and I feel like I want to read that too haha.
Even here I thought, yes, right? Why am I always busy, since I became a mother I am always busy haha. Because I am now a parent, I have so many responsibilities in being a mother and wife, there are so many things to do not only in my life but also in the life of my child, so every move I make needs to be thought about even if I am just inside the house. Even when I am sitting or lying down I am still holding my cellphone busy being an affiliate and here at PeakD, in short, we are busy with the things in our daily responsibilities in life, it is only good if what we do makes us happy hehe.
This one got me thinking, sometimes we pretend we are happy even if we are not, just because we don't want to see that we are hurt. but we know that we really want to be happy, not only ourselves but also our family. if only, there is no substitute for not being good or something bad happening every time I am happy. I will choose to be happy every day.
yes i agree of this, when we rest the world also stops.
but not time, so we are always busy because time is gold. huhu
Being a mother is a full-time job, I really respect you because you still manage to make time for other things. That part that you wrote "because we don't want to see that we are hurt." is such a good attitude! :)
Ikr, because time is gold so we feel like we have to maximaze it. However, I think the book touches how important it is to slow down when we can. So I hope you have some times to slow down, even only a couple of minutes every day! Thanks for your meaningful comment, appreciate it a lot!