Slow is smooth, smooth is fast
Newsletter. 11/1/23.
Happy November!
I’d like to start with a heartfelt thank you to everyone of you who virtually tuned in to my book talk at the Brown University Bookstore a couple of weeks back! 🥹 I know that this community is sprinkled across different cities, countries, and time zones–so it means a lot. It was streamed live on Facebook to 250+ people tuning in virtually, and I’m still on cloud nine about it! You can view a few pictures from the evening below.
If you’d like to watch the recording on Youtube,you can do so below!
Ok, now for the real talk.
Is it just me, or do you feel like Mother Earth has been whispering “slow down” to us all? I think I’ve received my visual cues from the scarlet pools of leaves surrounding the soon-to-be barren trees in my neighborhood.
In my body, this instruction came through by way of the absolute exhaustion I felt after my book talk. So, I’ve had a weeklong slow-down ritual consisting of korean face masks, green matcha smoothies, cloud gazing, and LOTS of painting. And though I’ve been deliberately juggling less than I usually do, I have felt more productive and optimistic about certain goals than I have in a long time. Isn’t that something?
I guess it has become intuitive for me to heed these “slow down” messages with haste. Post book-talk, it hit me that I now exist in a realm of being where the work I create directly depends on the clarity of my connection to God, nature, and my body. But, that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to relinquish the racing thoughts in my mind and the external pressures from things/people who are not aligned with the flow of Source energy in my life. Honestly, sometimes it still feels like a rebellious act to embody one of my favorite Biblical mantras– be still and know.
Earlier this year, while researching for my second book, I came across an enlightening quote:
“slow is smooth, smooth is fast”
This quote has rewired my thinking to embrace the long-term positives of moving slower towards my goals at times. I’ve been on rush mode trying to prove to myself that I wasn’t crazy to leave corporate in exchange for the artistic entrepreneurial journey that is healing my inner child/teen/everything in real time.
A picture of one of my paintings in progress
But now I’ve tapped into my seasonal monk mode and this is what I’m learning:
We’re each on our own personal hero’s journey, and that will most certainly mean ups and downs (as is the nature of life). However, we don’t have to be our biggest adversaries, and time doesn’t have to be one either. Today’s Western, hegemonic society is simultaneously a slave to the past, disillusioned by the present, and scared of the future.
But, I think a decolonized mindset allows us all to learn from ancestral mistakes and triumphs, while embracing the truth of the present and expressing gratitude for the promise of a better future. There is always the glimmer of hope that appears when our heart’s pendulums have swung too far off into the collective’s shadow side. We see this in the current state of the world, but guess what. History always repeats itself. And we only exist because there were people centuries and decades before us who decided to express their right to hope, and the pursuit of happiness. They did so through conscious action, love, movement, and rest. So, let’s repeat that part of history too.
VIBES by Odemi Pessu.
This month, I encourage you to assess your success in terms of how awesome you feel about where you are going. Neville Goddard, one of my favorite authors, wrote that feeling is the secret of any positive manifestation. This means, we actually need to pause and listen to how we feel in order to create a life well-lived.
To close it all out, I’m happy to have you as a part of this community of light in a world that wishes so desperately to cave into itself. I love you all! Thank you for being here.