Moving quickly has its merits. There's a time and a place for rush and efficiency. But as a life philosophy, it's draining. Here we are in this culture that tells us we are never enough and we have to do more, more more to earn our worth, earn our security, be accepted. Let this be a reminder: you don't have to buy into these myths! 

The fast pace becomes toxic when we don't balance it with the medicine of moving slowly, honoring our bodies, and feeding our needs. I want to share with you a poem I wrote to embody the healing of slow, quiet pacing. 

In Praise of the Unseen 

In a world where the external is emphasized 

– how we look, what we produce – 

remember that the quiet and unseen things have value as well. 

Your Inner Flame deserves to be nourished and tended to. 

Your innermost needs matter. 

When we value the unseen within ourselves, 

we also start to appreciate what society has deemed unimportant 

–  from the carbon-capturing weeds and healthy soil  – 

to the most downtrodden and undervalued human beings. 

I see you. 

I honor you. 

I thank you. 

Every expression is integral to the whole. 

The inner and the outer. 

The slow and the fast. 

The tender and the strong. 

May we embrace it all, with love.