Week 9: Speed is not the answer

Each week builds naturally on the previous one, but you can engage at your own pace without feeling behind or inadequate.

Learning Objectives

  • Recognize how speed culture impacts your inner life

  • Learn to move at your natural pace rather than external demands

  • Discover what becomes available when you slow down

Embracing slowness as a pathway to depth and authenticity

August 16 - 22

  • ✺ Opening Reflection

    What if speed isn’t efficiency but actually a form of spiritual poverty? This week challenges the assumption that faster is better and explores how slowing down can restore your connection to yourself and what truly matters.

  • ✺ Core Teaching

    The Speed Trap

    We live in a culture that equates speed with success, efficiency with virtue, and busy-ness with importance. But speed often prevents us from accessing our deeper wisdom, from truly connecting with others, and from experiencing the richness available in each moment.

    When you move at the speed demanded by external forces rather than your natural rhythm, you disconnect from your authentic self. Your personal capital, your energy, attention, creativity, and capacity for deep experience, gets depleted by the constant rushing.

  • ✺ Cost of Speech Culture And What Slowness Offers

    What Speed Culture Costs

    Presence: When you’re always rushing to the next thing, you miss the current moment

    Depth: Surface-level engagement replaces meaningful connection

    Intuition: Your inner knowing gets drowned out by external urgency

    Joy: Pleasure requires presence, which speed disrupts

    Authenticity: You respond to external demands rather than internal wisdom

    What Slowness Offers

    Presence: Full engagement with whatever you’re doing

    Depth: The ability to go beneath the surface of experiences

    Sensitivity: Greater awareness of your needs, feelings, and responses

    Quality: Doing fewer things with greater care and attention

    Connection: Time for relationships to develop naturally

  • ✺ Exercises

    Exercise 1: The Pace Audit

    For three days, notice your pace throughout the day:

    When do you feel rushed versus when do you feel appropriately paced?

    What triggers you to speed up?

    How does your body feel when you’re moving too fast?

    When you slow down, what do you notice that you usually miss?

    Exercise 2: The Deliberate Slowness Practice

    Each day, choose one activity to do deliberately slowly:

    Eat one meal at half your normal pace

    Walk somewhere without any time pressure

    Have a conversation without rushing to respond

    Complete a task with full attention rather than efficiency as the goal

    Exercise 3: The Natural Rhythm Discovery

    Pay attention to your natural rhythms this week:

    When does your energy naturally rise and fall?

    What pace feels most sustainable for different types of activities?

    How much time do you actually need for transitions between activities?

    What happens when you honor these natural rhythms instead of forcing external pace?

    Exercise 4: The Speed Boundary Practice

    Set boundaries around speed demands:

    Practice saying I need to think about that instead of responding immediately

    Build buffer time into your schedule

    Choose one commitment to approach without rushing

    Notice when speed is actually necessary versus when it’s just habitual

    Weekly Practice

    Each morning, set an intention for your pace that day. Ask: How do I want to move through today? Let this guide your choices about timing, commitments, and transitions.

  • ✺ Journal Prompts

    Looking Back

    Personal Capital Assessment: This week, I’ve noticed that speed has been disrupting my personal capital in these ways…

    Moments of Slowness: The times I successfully embraced slowness this week were… and they felt…

    Resistance and Challenges: I found it most difficult to slow down when… because…

    Looking Within

    Authenticity Discovery: When I slowed down, I discovered these authentic parts of myself…

    Depth vs. Speed: The difference between my rushed experiences and my slower, more intentional experiences was…

    Values Alignment: Embracing slowness aligns with my deeper values in these ways…

    Looking Forward

    Intention Setting: Next week, I will protect my personal capital by…

    Slowness Practice: One specific area where I commit to choosing depth over speed is…

    Boundary Creation: To honor my authentic rhythm, I will establish this boundary…

  • ✺ End of Week Reflection

    In slowing down, I speed up what truly matters. In choosing depth, I discover my authentic self. My personal capital grows not through rush, but through presence.

    Complete this sentence: I am learning that speed is not the answer because …

    Instead, I am choosing to …