WEBVTT 00:00.631 --> 00:04.872 [SPEAKER_00]: You are listening to Blessed and Boston, presented by Anchor DeMedia. 00:05.493 --> 00:11.535 [SPEAKER_00]: In entrepreneurship podcasts for Christians, all about how to make God the CEO of your business. 00:12.135 --> 00:19.297 [SPEAKER_00]: Get ready to be inspired, challenged, but well equipped to live and build your destiny, his way. 00:27.068 --> 00:30.792 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey guys, welcome to another episode of The Blessed Embossed of Podcast. 00:31.332 --> 00:37.298 [SPEAKER_00]: We are continuing with the final chapter of the ruthless elimination of hurry. 00:38.119 --> 00:46.968 [SPEAKER_00]: The author proposed four practices for us to live in unhurried light and we are making our way through the last one which is the practice of slowing. 00:47.809 --> 00:58.592 [SPEAKER_00]: where we left off in the last episode, he was giving us 20 ideas or practices that we could implement in order for us to live a slower past life. 00:59.072 --> 01:00.432 [SPEAKER_00]: So we stopped at number 10. 01:00.472 --> 01:07.974 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to pick up and take us all the way through 20 and time permitting we can get into the epilogue as well. 01:08.674 --> 01:13.780 [SPEAKER_00]: But before we get there, I wanted to share a very raw revelation. 01:15.001 --> 01:25.072 [SPEAKER_00]: One thing I love about this show is that I'm not just here from a place teaching you, like when I first started this podcast, man, almost 10 years ago. 01:26.480 --> 01:47.504 [SPEAKER_00]: There were a lot of business podcasts that were focused solely on I have reached this pinnacle of success and here is how you can be successful like me and one of the reasons why I wanted to start podcasting is because I wanted to hear stories and experiences from people who were in the trenches somebody who was on day one of starting their business. 01:48.004 --> 02:03.184 [SPEAKER_00]: somebody who was on day 100 but still navigating the nuances and the aspects of the journey that you will only know if you were in the trenches because I wanted somebody to identify with from where I was. 02:03.965 --> 02:14.691 [SPEAKER_00]: and what I love about this show now that we are talking about faith and business is that you never fully arrive when it comes to doing business God's way. 02:14.771 --> 02:16.331 [SPEAKER_00]: You just continue to evolve. 02:16.371 --> 02:17.772 [SPEAKER_00]: You reach levels of success. 02:17.832 --> 02:19.033 [SPEAKER_00]: You reach mountain tops. 02:19.413 --> 02:21.894 [SPEAKER_00]: However, there's always going to be struggle. 02:21.954 --> 02:23.395 [SPEAKER_00]: There's always going to be a during this. 02:23.415 --> 02:25.076 [SPEAKER_00]: There's always going to be long suffering. 02:25.096 --> 02:26.136 [SPEAKER_00]: That's just a part of it. 02:27.917 --> 02:36.939 [SPEAKER_00]: one thing I'm grateful for with this platform is the ability to navigate or articulate the emotions and the feelings at every season. 02:37.520 --> 02:42.601 [SPEAKER_00]: So the I could provide language for those of you who are navigating your unique circumstances as well. 02:43.281 --> 02:50.383 [SPEAKER_00]: So that's why I wanted to have just a quick raw moment before we go into the further discussions of the book. 02:51.823 --> 02:57.851 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm in a season right now where it is unfamiliar territory and there are a lot of emotions in the season. 02:57.951 --> 03:01.135 [SPEAKER_00]: Excitement, confusion, uncertainty. 03:02.353 --> 03:11.538 [SPEAKER_00]: joy, like the fulfillment, there are so many different things that seeing opposite, but the truth, if I want to feel simultaneously. 03:12.618 --> 03:17.561 [SPEAKER_00]: But the space I'm referring to is this law school journey and everything that's come along with it. 03:18.381 --> 03:20.282 [SPEAKER_00]: Y'all know the Lord told me to go to law school. 03:20.362 --> 03:22.583 [SPEAKER_00]: I will be, I just finished my first year. 03:23.003 --> 03:27.305 [SPEAKER_00]: And now I am in a position this summer where I 03:31.717 --> 03:50.842 [SPEAKER_00]: businesses in the world in their legal department, getting experience for how the legal teams navigate these massive business structures and this is really exciting opportunity with this I've been exposed to some unique experiences because I'm a non-traditional student. 03:51.323 --> 03:57.584 [SPEAKER_00]: I've built businesses over the last 10 years mine and others and so here I am a novice in this 03:59.825 --> 04:07.270 [SPEAKER_00]: going from being a person making the decisions and being in charge to be the person that is learning and soaking it all in. 04:07.730 --> 04:17.456 [SPEAKER_00]: And so that is the most exciting part, honestly, which may be surprising because I know it may be more popular to be like, I'm the boss. 04:17.516 --> 04:20.577 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't take orders from others or I'm in charge and blah, blah, blah, blah. 04:20.638 --> 04:21.118 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't have 04:21.638 --> 04:23.179 [SPEAKER_00]: ego, what it comes to this. 04:23.779 --> 04:36.287 [SPEAKER_00]: So it's exciting because I love being a position where I can be curious, I can be a sponge, I can soak it all in, I could be around people who know way more than be in certain areas because that's how we grow. 04:37.087 --> 04:51.524 [SPEAKER_00]: So I've been exposed to some really exciting experiences and opportunities, even in DC, where I live down on Capitol Hill, being around lawmakers and legislators and all of that is been really interesting. 04:52.345 --> 05:06.702 [SPEAKER_00]: And I've enjoyed it, but this morning I had a moment with the Lord because one thing that I've tried to stay true to and keep top of my is being a focus on what this journey looks like for take them. 05:07.323 --> 05:21.452 [SPEAKER_00]: Because when you're in a new space, you can get in and date it with the culture, the way in which things have always happened, what's popular, what's trending, what the best practices are for other people when it's easy to get caught up that way. 05:21.492 --> 05:26.775 [SPEAKER_00]: So if you're going back to school, whether it's law school or any other school, okay, this is how you're supposed to study. 05:27.235 --> 05:29.195 [SPEAKER_00]: this is the way that you approach class. 05:29.255 --> 05:31.316 [SPEAKER_00]: This is what you need to do to be successful. 05:31.336 --> 05:47.679 [SPEAKER_00]: There are these best practices from other people who've gone through it, which is useful in some ways, but we have to be mindful to not get sucked into other people's journeys and be specific and clear on what the Lord's journey is for us. 05:48.419 --> 05:50.419 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's been something that's been top of mind 05:56.580 --> 05:57.582 [SPEAKER_00]: some uncertainty. 05:58.324 --> 06:04.435 [SPEAKER_00]: So I will sit in with the Lord this morning and I'm like, where are we going? 06:04.676 --> 06:05.537 [SPEAKER_00]: What's the plan? 06:05.578 --> 06:07.962 [SPEAKER_00]: Because I still don't have the big picture. 06:09.143 --> 06:13.845 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm saying this because there's somebody where the Lord is called you into something new. 06:13.945 --> 06:14.625 [SPEAKER_00]: It's scary. 06:15.005 --> 06:16.045 [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't make sense. 06:16.165 --> 06:18.726 [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't seem like it's the right time for it. 06:19.086 --> 06:21.807 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you've even already said yes to the thing. 06:22.307 --> 06:33.451 [SPEAKER_00]: But as you're doing it, you're waiting for like that big picture, you're waiting for that thing that makes you comfortable with it or that thing that makes what the Lord is calling you to do makes sense. 06:33.891 --> 06:36.012 [SPEAKER_00]: And because you don't have it, it might 06:37.712 --> 06:53.238 [SPEAKER_00]: strike or despair in some type of way, you may be upset, you may be stressed, you may be second-guessing yourselves, you may be second-guessing the Lord, because you don't understand the big picture and why he has you here. 06:53.738 --> 07:02.402 [SPEAKER_00]: So you're looking for that blueprint or that picture that glimps at the promised land to encourage you to keep going through. 07:06.995 --> 07:10.577 [SPEAKER_00]: I've been obeying you, I've seen the ways in which you've been moving. 07:10.737 --> 07:14.099 [SPEAKER_00]: I've been enjoying the journey, but like, where are we going? 07:14.139 --> 07:27.867 [SPEAKER_00]: Because I know that if you show me the big picture, that will help me feel a bit more secure in this and more confident about how to move forward and navigate these different experiences. 07:28.648 --> 07:33.831 [SPEAKER_00]: So the Lord was like, I'm not trying to make it constable and obeying me. 07:35.196 --> 07:46.023 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm intentionally not showing you the big picture, because I'm trying to rob you of yourself's efficiency, because if I was to show you, okay, this is the blueprint, this is the promise land. 07:46.364 --> 07:53.849 [SPEAKER_00]: Here we'll come your ambition, your drive, your self's efficiency, that's wanna apply, and you're gonna apply it to what I showed you. 07:54.289 --> 08:01.474 [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm intentionally keeping you on comfortable in order to make sure that you remain dependent. 08:02.014 --> 08:08.237 [SPEAKER_00]: So, all of the beauty of what will happen and how this is going to unfold and why I have you on this journey. 08:08.577 --> 08:16.181 [SPEAKER_00]: It will unfold as you continue to be obedient, but all you need to focus on is that connected and abiding in me. 08:17.221 --> 08:21.423 [SPEAKER_00]: And everything else that unfolds will be an outcome of that connection. 08:21.923 --> 08:24.285 [SPEAKER_00]: It will be an overflow from that connection. 08:29.868 --> 08:35.213 [SPEAKER_00]: This should not be surprising to you, because this is how you always done things with the Lord. 08:35.253 --> 08:38.056 [SPEAKER_00]: This is how he's always ordered your steps. 08:38.397 --> 08:51.350 [SPEAKER_00]: When you started your business, when you started this podcast, everything that you've done has been from a place of obeying the Lord, filling uncomfortable and seeing the fruit of that obedience, repeat. 08:51.990 --> 08:53.832 [SPEAKER_00]: That's been the whole process. 08:53.992 --> 08:58.416 [SPEAKER_00]: The pattern from the beginning of doing life in business the Lord's wake. 08:58.476 --> 09:11.086 [SPEAKER_00]: So I laugh at myself because I asked what I want to say is a stupid question and it wasn't stupid because it was honest, but it was a silly question because this is how the Lord has always 09:12.507 --> 09:13.628 [SPEAKER_00]: done things with me. 09:14.708 --> 09:20.990 [SPEAKER_00]: And I share that because I want to provide language to somebody who may be feeling the same way that I was. 09:21.070 --> 09:23.491 [SPEAKER_00]: I got how make it make sense. 09:23.591 --> 09:26.592 [SPEAKER_00]: Like it just feels like I like I see your hand in it. 09:26.652 --> 09:26.912 [SPEAKER_00]: I see 09:28.032 --> 09:28.873 [SPEAKER_00]: that you're here. 09:28.993 --> 09:30.315 [SPEAKER_00]: I know that you're moving. 09:30.435 --> 09:32.597 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm enjoying the process, but can you show me? 09:32.617 --> 09:33.478 [SPEAKER_00]: Give me a little peek. 09:34.399 --> 09:35.881 [SPEAKER_00]: And to what's to come? 09:36.562 --> 09:38.904 [SPEAKER_00]: Can you give me a little look at the scroll? 09:39.405 --> 09:39.865 [SPEAKER_00]: Please. 09:41.207 --> 09:43.469 [SPEAKER_00]: With the Lord wants you to know that 09:44.330 --> 09:59.594 [SPEAKER_00]: So those of you who make feel like he's quiet that he's not speaking to you and the enemy is using that to cause all of this this uncertainty and the discomfort is making you second guess your obedience. 09:59.954 --> 10:03.155 [SPEAKER_00]: I want with the Lord said to me to resonate with you as well. 10:03.615 --> 10:06.516 [SPEAKER_00]: All you have to focus on is being connected with him. 10:07.636 --> 10:09.937 [SPEAKER_00]: All you have to focus on is abiding in him. 10:10.925 --> 10:19.996 [SPEAKER_00]: In obeying what he shares with you and through your obedience and through that dedication and dependency, you'll start to see things unfold. 10:20.337 --> 10:22.640 [SPEAKER_00]: And over time, it'll start to make sense. 10:24.142 --> 10:30.367 [SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know who needed that, but I wanted to share that because I know that that wasn't just for me. 10:31.287 --> 10:37.452 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's pick back up with the 20 practices that we can implement to live a slower past life. 10:37.892 --> 10:48.440 [SPEAKER_00]: And I believe that as implementing these things will help us in abiding and staying connected to the Lord because we're disconnecting ourselves from all of the hurried. 10:48.840 --> 11:11.613 [SPEAKER_00]: That consumes our lives a quick recap of one through ten number one was drive the speed limit number two Getting to the slow lane number three come to a full stop at stop signs number four was don't text and drive Number five was show up ten minutes early for an appointment without your phone number six getting to the longest check-out line in a grocery store 11:12.333 --> 11:15.755 [SPEAKER_00]: Number seven, turn your smartphone into a dumb phone. 11:16.415 --> 11:20.597 [SPEAKER_00]: Number eight, get a flip phone or ditch your cell phone altogether. 11:21.157 --> 11:25.759 [SPEAKER_00]: Number nine, parent your phone, put it to bed before you and make it sleep in. 11:26.319 --> 11:30.421 [SPEAKER_00]: And number 10, keep your phone off until after your morning quiet time. 11:31.321 --> 11:33.222 [SPEAKER_00]: If you want to hear my thoughts and opinions, 11:33.702 --> 11:34.683 [SPEAKER_00]: because I had a lot of them. 11:35.344 --> 11:38.567 [SPEAKER_00]: On any of those, make sure you listen to the last episode. 11:39.088 --> 11:43.472 [SPEAKER_00]: Now picking up with number 11, he says, set times for email. 11:43.492 --> 11:48.117 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how many of y'all like me who checks emails all the time. 11:48.297 --> 11:55.524 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't have notifications for email on my phone because my phone usually notifications are off for most things. 11:56.285 --> 12:09.369 [SPEAKER_00]: But I do check my emails often, whether it's my business emails, my personal email where my family is stuff is school emails, like I check all of them way too often. 12:09.829 --> 12:21.312 [SPEAKER_00]: And honestly, it's not even the best choice because you might forget to respond to stuff because let's say you got an email and it requires you to research something or find something that you don't have access to in that 12:25.593 --> 12:28.236 [SPEAKER_00]: attempted to answer it, but didn't finish. 12:28.396 --> 12:35.504 [SPEAKER_00]: Now it gets forgotten about there have been plenty of times where somebody has asked me for something via email, but then I forgot. 12:35.584 --> 12:42.132 [SPEAKER_00]: I checked the emails was no longer there, but I didn't get around to doing it because I couldn't answer it in a moment. 12:42.612 --> 12:48.155 [SPEAKER_00]: or let's say an email just requires a lot of thought and energy or it upsets you with some type of way. 12:48.235 --> 12:55.899 [SPEAKER_00]: Now that's robbing you from the ability to stay present and whatever it is you have going on because now you agitated about whatever you just read. 12:56.560 --> 13:02.203 [SPEAKER_00]: So I am with him or set up times for email because I've done it wrong for a long time. 13:02.903 --> 13:05.984 [SPEAKER_00]: can easily see why it's not beneficial. 13:06.424 --> 13:16.787 [SPEAKER_00]: So he says do not have email on your phone, do not glance at it when you get a free moment in the elevator or in a boring meeting, do not answer random emails throughout the day. 13:17.347 --> 13:20.268 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, set a time to do email and stick to it. 13:20.968 --> 13:26.572 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, figure out what works for you, most experts recommend that you don't check email more than twice a day. 13:27.053 --> 13:31.556 [SPEAKER_00]: Say, 9 o'clock and 4 o'clock at the beginning and they're the end of your work day. 13:32.377 --> 13:34.939 [SPEAKER_00]: Each time, take your inbox to zero if you can. 13:35.419 --> 13:40.503 [SPEAKER_00]: If there's a task, don't leave it hanging in your email chain, get it wanted to do lists for later. 13:41.163 --> 13:48.449 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, unless you're an executive assistant or some kind of job that requires constant email vigilance, this will save you hours each week. 13:49.746 --> 13:57.591 [SPEAKER_00]: Number 12, and we don't even have to belabor this point because we know, set a time in a time limit for social media or just get off of it. 13:58.612 --> 14:14.322 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, number 12 or number 13, I don't necessarily agree with, I don't know what this man has against Netflix because it's been a few times throughout this book that he's talked about his disdain for Netflix binging or whatever, but I don't necessarily agree with number 13, 14:16.943 --> 14:35.321 [SPEAKER_00]: He says even more than social media TV and it's sibling film consumed the lion's share of our so-called free time for the average American at his over five hours a day or 35 hours a week He says no it's lower from millennials than that's only because we spend so much time on social media 14:36.302 --> 14:39.406 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the one addiction for which binging is socially acceptable. 14:39.886 --> 14:47.215 [SPEAKER_00]: People now have Netflix days where they blow an entire day or weekend on multiple seasons of the latest streaming phenomenon. 14:47.755 --> 14:50.078 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like a Sabbath gone horribly wrong. 14:51.421 --> 14:52.482 [SPEAKER_00]: Now I'm an introvert. 14:52.902 --> 14:55.064 [SPEAKER_00]: I disagree with this because I'm an introvert. 14:55.104 --> 15:02.689 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm somebody who enjoys solitude alone time and I need it in order to recharge. 15:03.150 --> 15:07.913 [SPEAKER_00]: So if I'm watching a show, I also like a good show because it's like getting into a good story. 15:07.933 --> 15:15.739 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a reason why so many great novels are turned into television shows or movies because they're great stories. 15:16.159 --> 15:16.339 [SPEAKER_00]: So 15:17.300 --> 15:21.923 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't agree with him here and I know I like to get into a good documentary. 15:21.943 --> 15:26.925 [SPEAKER_00]: There's so much, there's so many options as far as what you can watch on TV. 15:27.246 --> 15:35.210 [SPEAKER_00]: You can watch Christian-based films and movies that allow you to see the goodness a God in a different format from a book or just the Bible. 15:35.530 --> 15:38.872 [SPEAKER_00]: You can see the story play out on screen. 15:39.332 --> 15:41.413 [SPEAKER_00]: The chosen is an excellent show. 15:42.474 --> 15:44.976 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's Christian base talking about the life of Jesus. 15:45.417 --> 15:47.959 [SPEAKER_00]: My son watches a show called Superbook. 15:48.540 --> 15:49.721 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's about the Bible. 15:49.761 --> 15:52.803 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a cartoon for kids that is about the Bible. 15:52.904 --> 15:56.707 [SPEAKER_00]: And so he watches that at home in his spare time. 15:57.147 --> 16:00.711 [SPEAKER_00]: I watch different documentaries to learn about different things that's happening. 16:01.451 --> 16:18.457 [SPEAKER_00]: In the world or do a deep dive or subjects that I may not know about, I love to watch comedy shows, things that make me laugh or a good TV show that I could watch in my friends and we could keep key about like there's community that happens around shows and movies and all that. 16:18.477 --> 16:19.657 [SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know. 16:19.997 --> 16:20.978 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a TV watcher. 16:21.358 --> 16:22.738 [SPEAKER_00]: I like the show obviously. 16:23.378 --> 16:24.979 [SPEAKER_00]: So I disagree with him here 16:28.560 --> 16:34.203 [SPEAKER_00]: But he makes the point of how it feels your mind with things that are contrary to the word. 16:34.823 --> 16:43.088 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, if you feel your mind with fornication and wildly unrealistic portrayals of beauty, or romance and sex, or violence in the quest for revenge, 16:44.088 --> 16:47.889 [SPEAKER_00]: or a parade of opulent wealth, what do you think that will give to your soul? 16:48.409 --> 16:51.910 [SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, there's very little I can watch as an apprentice of Jesus. 16:52.330 --> 17:07.053 [SPEAKER_00]: Central to Jesus' vision of human flourishing and a lust free life, the storming on the Mount, I'm all for art and even entertainment, but there's very little cinema I can watch that does not incite lust, along with the parade of its ruinous friends. 17:07.613 --> 17:18.121 [SPEAKER_00]: Since the 1920s Hollywood has been the vanguard of the enemy's quest to degrade sexuality and marriage and decensitize our society to sing, why make it easy for him? 17:18.781 --> 17:27.268 [SPEAKER_00]: Occasionally, I walk away from a film or a show with the sense of wonder, awe, sobriety, or even wisdom, but those moments are rare. 17:28.589 --> 17:37.643 [SPEAKER_00]: I understand what he's saying and I totally agree with how the enemy has overtaken Hollywood in a lot of movies they produce our garbage. 17:37.683 --> 17:42.471 [SPEAKER_00]: It does desensitize us to say, and I think that's... 17:44.400 --> 17:58.627 [SPEAKER_00]: There's just so many more options now and I forget what year this book was written, but there's so many more options, especially with the opportunity for independent filmmakers and creators who aren't necessarily in Hollywood to put out good content. 17:59.368 --> 18:02.671 [SPEAKER_00]: Also, there's some individual implications here too. 18:03.452 --> 18:08.016 [SPEAKER_00]: If you know you deal with less and something incites that end you cut it off. 18:08.677 --> 18:14.863 [SPEAKER_00]: If you know that you struggle with and grieve or gluttony or whatever and you're watching something that brings that up, cut it off. 18:15.063 --> 18:17.425 [SPEAKER_00]: But I think to say, kill the TV altogether. 18:18.666 --> 18:27.132 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't agree, but TV is not something that brings me to a place where I'm outside of abiding in the Lord. 18:27.633 --> 18:29.914 [SPEAKER_00]: So that could, that's just my personal opinion. 18:29.934 --> 18:33.157 [SPEAKER_00]: Just like number 13 is his personal opinion. 18:33.277 --> 18:43.584 [SPEAKER_00]: And so for you, thinking about how to live slower, just have that social where it is a self-assess, what, how you should go about applying or not this one. 18:44.545 --> 18:49.330 [SPEAKER_00]: Number 14, I 100% agree with, it's single task. 18:50.412 --> 18:53.815 [SPEAKER_00]: He said, I've come to realize the obvious, multitasking is a myth. 18:54.236 --> 18:56.618 [SPEAKER_00]: Literally, only God is omnipresent. 18:57.079 --> 19:01.744 [SPEAKER_00]: I inhibit a body, a body that can only do one thing at a time. 19:02.369 --> 19:11.474 [SPEAKER_00]: multitasking is just slate of hand for switching back and forth between a lot of different tests so I can do them all poorly instead of doing one well. 19:12.574 --> 19:16.016 [SPEAKER_00]: It is well documented that multitasking is ineffective. 19:16.576 --> 19:25.101 [SPEAKER_00]: You can Google statistics on multitasking and see so many different studies that have been done about how it is impossible. 19:25.841 --> 19:28.962 [SPEAKER_00]: you cannot successfully do multiple things well at the same time. 19:29.062 --> 19:34.663 [SPEAKER_00]: We cannot do things well successfully when we multitask. 19:35.063 --> 19:41.665 [SPEAKER_00]: Something is going to be done poorly, as he said, pretty much everything you're trying to do at the same time is going to be done. 19:42.125 --> 19:46.406 [SPEAKER_00]: Poorly, we are more effective when we focus. 19:47.106 --> 19:54.088 [SPEAKER_00]: In my book, she is on compromise and I have a chapter on multitasking versus multiplying. 19:54.928 --> 20:02.490 [SPEAKER_00]: and I talk about how a lot of busy people we do try to multitask in a sense of being efficient and getting more done. 20:02.830 --> 20:05.971 [SPEAKER_00]: But we, as Christians, serve a God who multiplies. 20:06.652 --> 20:16.394 [SPEAKER_00]: And so the formula that I talked before the God math formula, if we focus on consecration plus concentration, the Lord will 20:18.735 --> 20:21.297 [SPEAKER_00]: and this is something that we have to be very intentional with. 20:21.397 --> 20:22.037 [SPEAKER_00]: I know I do. 20:22.637 --> 20:29.962 [SPEAKER_00]: I naturally try to do multiple things at the same time, and I have to consciously realize that I'm doing it and stop it. 20:31.162 --> 20:42.109 [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm telling you from experience, this is something that we want to fix overnight, but this is one of the practices or tips that he's given us that I want us all to put or not 20:43.005 --> 20:45.006 [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of these just take you to leave it there ideas. 20:45.527 --> 20:50.570 [SPEAKER_00]: This one put this one on your list as a non-negotiable single tasking. 20:51.390 --> 21:01.897 [SPEAKER_00]: He says one of the best ways to slow down your overall pace of life is to literally slow down your body, force yourself to move through the world at a relaxed pace. 21:02.657 --> 21:03.558 [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's a good one. 21:04.338 --> 21:06.500 [SPEAKER_00]: Number 16, I love this idea. 21:07.401 --> 21:10.423 [SPEAKER_00]: Take a regular date alone for silence in solitude. 21:11.004 --> 21:14.226 [SPEAKER_00]: He said that take a full day once a month to be alone. 21:14.927 --> 21:19.310 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, not legalistic, sometimes I miss, but usually I wake up early. 21:19.710 --> 21:21.472 [SPEAKER_00]: If the weather is good, I head out to the 21:24.974 --> 21:30.698 [SPEAKER_00]: In the winter, I book a room at a local trappist Abby, whatever that is, just me and the monks. 21:31.278 --> 21:35.941 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a slow, easy day for the reading and praying, and yes, occasional napping. 21:36.401 --> 21:38.002 [SPEAKER_00]: It's sabothy, but a bit different. 21:38.202 --> 21:39.343 [SPEAKER_00]: It's my time to center. 21:39.443 --> 21:40.163 [SPEAKER_00]: Check my posts. 21:40.463 --> 21:44.586 [SPEAKER_00]: See if I'm actually living the way that I want to live, and lying with my convictions. 21:45.146 --> 22:04.065 [SPEAKER_00]: I look back over the previous month, check the schedule of the month ahead, pull out my life plan and annual goals, track my progress, journal the ways I sense God coming to me with his invitations, I absolutely cannot express how much the practice of a monthly day of silence and solitude is formative to form my person. 22:04.725 --> 22:05.785 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I'm an introvert. 22:05.885 --> 22:07.126 [SPEAKER_00]: I get most people aren't. 22:07.506 --> 22:08.486 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I'm a pastor. 22:08.606 --> 22:10.067 [SPEAKER_00]: I have semi-flexible hours. 22:10.147 --> 22:10.707 [SPEAKER_00]: I get that. 22:11.127 --> 22:16.089 [SPEAKER_00]: But I think it's wise for all personality types if far more doable than most people realize. 22:16.729 --> 22:18.129 [SPEAKER_00]: I wish more people did this. 22:18.349 --> 22:23.791 [SPEAKER_00]: I wish young moms did this while dads watched the kids for one Saturday a month in vice versa. 22:24.331 --> 22:31.113 [SPEAKER_00]: I wish college kids did this to keep from getting sucked into the insanity of the university life where mental illness is at 22:32.854 --> 22:39.081 [SPEAKER_00]: I wish business people did this to make sure the balance sheet of their lives looked even better than the one at their company. 22:39.681 --> 22:52.215 [SPEAKER_00]: I wish creative, spontaneous, tight pee on Myers-Briggs and Thai schedule people did this to keep their beautiful, precious, short lives from wasting years on ephemeral distractions. 22:52.695 --> 22:54.377 [SPEAKER_00]: I wish you did this, you can. 22:56.031 --> 23:09.675 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, this is something that I'm sitting with for sure, because I'm somebody who definitely needs the silence and the style of two, a way that I do this on a much smaller scale that is very helpful for me is slow mornings. 23:10.195 --> 23:21.099 [SPEAKER_00]: Same concept here, but of course in way less time, but just starting the day at a slow pace versus starting the day reactive is something that 23:24.660 --> 23:28.564 [SPEAKER_00]: for how my day goes and how I feel and if I'm rushed or not. 23:29.025 --> 23:41.917 [SPEAKER_00]: So even if you can't carve out a full day once a month or a weekend or whatever, definitely take some time to have a slow morning or have a quiet evening, whichever makes the most sense for you. 23:42.638 --> 23:47.181 [SPEAKER_00]: I know I'm trying to get to the point where every quarter I had like a staycation or some sorts. 23:47.301 --> 23:50.662 [SPEAKER_00]: That's something that I definitely want to implement. 23:50.742 --> 23:53.284 [SPEAKER_00]: I just got to figure out the logistics of making it work. 23:53.884 --> 24:06.091 [SPEAKER_00]: But this is something I want you to definitely sit with and think even if I can't take a day a month, how can I still practice this in a way that's realistic for me? 24:06.871 --> 24:10.152 [SPEAKER_00]: Number 17, I think we all do this, take up journaling. 24:10.572 --> 24:15.674 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't journal a lot just enough to keep focused and justify a mold scandal my desk. 24:16.194 --> 24:26.777 [SPEAKER_00]: Bare minimum at my monthly silence and solitude day, I write up any key developments from that month, any dreams, prophetic words, or senses of direction from the Holy Spirit. 24:27.197 --> 24:31.478 [SPEAKER_00]: This slow, cathartic act of writing your life down is grounding. 24:31.958 --> 24:34.901 [SPEAKER_00]: a tether for the soul and the hurricane of the modern world. 24:35.322 --> 24:39.546 [SPEAKER_00]: If you don't like to write, keep a vlog or a voice note journal, think that's a good idea. 24:39.966 --> 24:42.989 [SPEAKER_00]: Or just sit and process your life with God. 24:43.449 --> 24:47.633 [SPEAKER_00]: The point is to slow down long enough to observe your life from the outside. 24:48.294 --> 24:52.017 [SPEAKER_00]: As the Greek won't say, the unexamined life is not worth living. 24:52.921 --> 25:12.817 [SPEAKER_00]: I love that he gave that idea of doing a vlog or a voice note journal if you don't like to write because it still keeps the point of the exercise but in a different format and you can also then take those and use a different like an asshole or something to transcribe them to have like a digital diary. 25:13.277 --> 25:25.321 [SPEAKER_00]: so to speak and that could be helpful as well so that way you still have the text version which may be easier to search different prophetic words or downloads that you may have got to be able to go back and reference them. 25:25.441 --> 25:27.602 [SPEAKER_00]: So adding that to what you say. 25:28.422 --> 25:32.265 [SPEAKER_00]: number 18, experiment with mindfulness and meditation. 25:32.886 --> 25:36.789 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, mindfulness is just silence and solitude for secular society. 25:37.169 --> 25:39.191 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like prayer minus the best part. 25:39.831 --> 25:43.734 [SPEAKER_00]: And there are forms of Jesus mindfulness from the contemplative tradition. 25:44.355 --> 25:52.621 [SPEAKER_00]: On days when I can't focus and my imagination is running naked all over the place, which unfortunately is common for me, I take a few minutes and just focus 25:57.545 --> 26:04.530 [SPEAKER_00]: Then I start to imagine myself breathing in the Holy Spirit and breathing out all of the agitation of the day. 26:05.110 --> 26:10.053 [SPEAKER_00]: I turn my breathing into a prayer, inhaling the fruit of the Spirit one at a time. 26:10.794 --> 26:16.838 [SPEAKER_00]: Breathe in love, breathe out anger, breathe enjoy, breathe out sadness and pain. 26:17.538 --> 26:22.321 [SPEAKER_00]: Breathe in peace, breathe out anxiety and uncertainty for tomorrow. 26:23.002 --> 26:24.082 [SPEAKER_00]: Breathe in patience, 26:26.984 --> 26:30.826 [SPEAKER_00]: Even better than practicing mindfulness is the next step into meditation. 26:31.527 --> 26:35.689 [SPEAKER_00]: Another ancient Christian word that has been co-opted by the New Age Renaissance. 26:36.089 --> 26:42.453 [SPEAKER_00]: But don't think Namaste, think Psalm 1, blessed is the one who meditates on his law day and night. 26:43.113 --> 26:57.098 [SPEAKER_00]: And the meditation of the Hebrew Jesus variety, you don't just empty your mind of the noise, chaos, anxiety, et cetera, but you fill your mind with Scripture with truth, with the voice of the Holy Spirit. 26:58.312 --> 27:01.214 [SPEAKER_00]: I can't put into words what meditation does for my soul. 27:01.694 --> 27:03.115 [SPEAKER_00]: Tim Keller, however, can. 27:03.796 --> 27:15.883 [SPEAKER_00]: Persons who meditate become people of substance who have thought things out and have deep convictions, who can explain difficult concepts and simple language, and who have good reasons behind everything that they do. 27:16.604 --> 27:18.045 [SPEAKER_00]: Many people do not meditate. 27:18.525 --> 27:27.551 [SPEAKER_00]: They skim everything, picking and choosing on impulse, having no thought-out reasons for their behavior, following wins they live shallow lies. 27:28.231 --> 27:34.299 [SPEAKER_00]: In a cultural moment of shallow, mindfulness and meditation are a step towards the deep waters. 27:35.515 --> 27:42.196 [SPEAKER_00]: I've told job before that for me what he's called in mindfulness, something I do is I engage all my senses. 27:42.216 --> 27:45.437 [SPEAKER_00]: This is something I learn in therapy that helps me slow down. 27:45.797 --> 27:47.857 [SPEAKER_00]: So I pay attention to what am I tasting? 27:48.818 --> 27:53.259 [SPEAKER_00]: Is it the the mintyness of the toothpaste I brush my teeth with? 27:53.639 --> 27:54.599 [SPEAKER_00]: What am I feeling? 27:54.659 --> 27:59.920 [SPEAKER_00]: I might touch something that is fuzzy or even just my clothes and just feel it. 28:00.700 --> 28:01.720 [SPEAKER_00]: What am I smelling? 28:02.140 --> 28:07.002 [SPEAKER_00]: Am I smelling the neighbor that's barbecue in the smoke from their grill? 28:07.062 --> 28:11.303 [SPEAKER_00]: Am I smelling the vanilla from the fragrance that I'm wearing? 28:11.363 --> 28:14.204 [SPEAKER_00]: Just intentionally engaging what I'm smelling. 28:14.644 --> 28:16.304 [SPEAKER_00]: What am I hearing? 28:16.344 --> 28:17.325 [SPEAKER_00]: What am I seeing? 28:17.485 --> 28:24.527 [SPEAKER_00]: All of the the senses engaging all of them is a great mindfulness exercise exercise to get you out your mind. 28:30.508 --> 28:36.810 [SPEAKER_00]: Something else that I think is good for even the meditation, I like to listen to prophetic instrumentals. 28:37.290 --> 28:46.373 [SPEAKER_00]: Dappy Keys is one of my favorites where I go on either his YouTube and on his YouTube in particular he usually has scripture on the screen. 28:46.773 --> 28:53.895 [SPEAKER_00]: So if you do this on his YouTube, just have your Bible with you in turn to whatever scripture comes on the screen. 28:54.355 --> 28:56.156 [SPEAKER_00]: But I also listen to it on. 28:57.117 --> 28:59.880 [SPEAKER_00]: like Apple Music or whatever, and I just let it play. 29:00.600 --> 29:09.169 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think about Scripture, I meditate, I want Scripture, I may open my Bible and go to certain points and read from there. 29:09.770 --> 29:14.715 [SPEAKER_00]: But that prophetic instrumental for me always helps to just calm myself. 29:15.136 --> 29:18.399 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is why Quick Sidebar is important, and it no matter. 29:19.632 --> 29:24.116 [SPEAKER_00]: what your talent is that you do it for the glory of the Lord. 29:24.136 --> 29:34.646 [SPEAKER_00]: I just might as be playing the piano, but the Holy Spirit uses him in such a way that I recognize God's presence whenever I cut on his music. 29:35.126 --> 29:36.207 [SPEAKER_00]: I pray that whenever you 29:37.194 --> 29:43.896 [SPEAKER_00]: cut on his podcast no matter what I'm speaking on, you have an encounter with the Holy Spirit where you can know that his presence is here. 29:45.076 --> 29:52.719 [SPEAKER_00]: So mindfulness and meditation I think can be beneficial for all of us, but remember not the way in which the new age world has co-optidates. 29:53.319 --> 29:57.544 [SPEAKER_00]: but the way in which the Lord intended for us to do so. 29:58.866 --> 30:01.749 [SPEAKER_00]: Number 19, this is self-explanatory. 30:01.789 --> 30:05.714 [SPEAKER_00]: If you can take long vacations, I think none of us will argue with it. 30:06.575 --> 30:10.740 [SPEAKER_00]: And then lastly, number 20, cook your own food and eat in. 30:11.946 --> 30:14.107 [SPEAKER_00]: This is something he does with his family. 30:14.207 --> 30:16.408 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that this is something that will work for me. 30:16.428 --> 30:24.272 [SPEAKER_00]: We'll slow it down, but he talks about how fast food is fast, not food real food takes time. 30:24.312 --> 30:27.794 [SPEAKER_00]: And now his family has eats like a plant-based whole food's diet. 30:28.354 --> 30:29.094 [SPEAKER_00]: They're plenty of... 30:30.535 --> 30:33.137 [SPEAKER_00]: The opposite of eating at home is not fast food like that. 30:34.078 --> 30:43.845 [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's like my core problem with a lot of his poise in his book is that there's no acknowledgment of the nuance or in a holistic look at stuff. 30:44.065 --> 30:49.389 [SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to disobey that either cut your TV or only watch sinfulness like bro. 30:49.409 --> 30:50.350 [SPEAKER_00]: There's other options 30:51.010 --> 30:58.896 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, it's like here either cook and all my fast food or you can go to an ice restaurant It's still still have whole food. 30:58.916 --> 31:03.258 [SPEAKER_00]: You didn't cook it, but like order chicken rice and vegetable. 31:03.279 --> 31:12.625 [SPEAKER_00]: There you go, but whatever His point though is that eating at home brings like the community and all of that self 31:14.190 --> 31:18.293 [SPEAKER_00]: If that's your portion, cook your own food at home and eat in. 31:18.313 --> 31:22.335 [SPEAKER_00]: There's somebody like me who has diverse, a diverse palette. 31:22.495 --> 31:24.256 [SPEAKER_00]: I like to try different foods. 31:24.616 --> 31:25.357 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a foodie. 31:25.557 --> 31:29.579 [SPEAKER_00]: So going to different restaurants and all of that is something that brings me joy. 31:29.639 --> 31:35.683 [SPEAKER_00]: And even being a foodie with my family, like for my birthday, I went to this, 31:36.423 --> 31:40.806 [SPEAKER_00]: Asian restaurant where they do like all you can eat small plates. 31:41.146 --> 31:56.577 [SPEAKER_00]: And I love it because I can try different things as part of the package And so I have went there with my family from my birthday and then my son loves that plate He always requests to go and I took him with me one day We went to I took him with me to school. 31:56.737 --> 32:01.140 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I wanted to expose him to law school because I believe that he'll definitely be a lawyer 32:02.060 --> 32:06.562 [SPEAKER_00]: And so afterwards we went to that restaurant and he eaten his sushi. 32:06.682 --> 32:09.523 [SPEAKER_00]: We're talking about the different things that's in the sushi. 32:10.183 --> 32:12.624 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, I introduced him to Wagyu. 32:12.664 --> 32:14.025 [SPEAKER_00]: So now he likes Wagyu. 32:14.065 --> 32:20.007 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, it was a fun experience for us to try new foods together and to watch his palate evolve. 32:20.267 --> 32:20.467 [SPEAKER_00]: So, 32:20.967 --> 32:29.530 [SPEAKER_00]: Staying concept with what the author is talking about with eating in, we just ate out, but for budget purposes, you should, we all should cook in this country, sure. 32:30.030 --> 32:46.456 [SPEAKER_00]: But whatever the case is, if it fuels mindfulness slowing down being present and exhibiting what it's like to be an apprentice of Jesus in your life, do it, whether it's eating out or eating in, just do it. 32:47.668 --> 32:49.649 [SPEAKER_00]: So those were all 20 ideas. 32:49.689 --> 32:51.790 [SPEAKER_00]: He even says, here, these are just ideas. 32:51.870 --> 32:53.051 [SPEAKER_00]: They may not be for you. 32:53.091 --> 32:53.751 [SPEAKER_00]: That's cool. 32:53.891 --> 33:00.074 [SPEAKER_00]: As obviously I objected to a few, come up with your own list, become up with a list and then do it. 33:00.434 --> 33:03.116 [SPEAKER_00]: There's more to life than an increase in speed. 33:03.576 --> 33:06.537 [SPEAKER_00]: Life is right under our noses waiting to be enjoyed. 33:06.898 --> 33:11.640 [SPEAKER_00]: We must ruthlessly eliminate hurry and that's best done gangfully. 33:13.107 --> 33:15.410 [SPEAKER_00]: So we have reached the end of my friends. 33:16.030 --> 33:23.619 [SPEAKER_00]: He does have an epilogue and I originally plan to talk about it because it's really good in this a few pages, but I think. 33:24.614 --> 33:31.397 [SPEAKER_00]: It just drives home the point that we're all clear on and it's that we need to eliminate hurry from our lives. 33:31.617 --> 33:39.540 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we end with Paul's message and first that's a low-end versus first that's a low-end for versus 10th to 11. 33:40.060 --> 33:46.063 [SPEAKER_00]: We urge you brothers and sisters to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. 33:47.690 --> 33:50.713 [SPEAKER_00]: So that is it y'all for our last book clip pick. 33:51.253 --> 33:53.015 [SPEAKER_00]: I pray that this book has blessed you. 33:53.035 --> 33:56.999 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what book we would we will read next. 33:57.159 --> 33:58.120 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm still thinking about it. 33:58.160 --> 34:04.366 [SPEAKER_00]: I kind of want to go to a business book because our all of our books have been about Christian leadership and lifestyle and things. 34:04.446 --> 34:08.389 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to go for us to read a business book. 34:09.230 --> 34:11.231 [SPEAKER_00]: but I'm trying to find one. 34:11.811 --> 34:12.332 [SPEAKER_00]: So we'll see. 34:12.992 --> 34:16.974 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you all for listening to another episode of the Blessed Impost podcast. 34:17.014 --> 34:19.535 [SPEAKER_00]: If you are on my email list, look out for email for me. 34:19.975 --> 34:26.098 [SPEAKER_00]: We just ended another, we're ending another quarter and quarterly, I like to do our mailback episodes. 34:26.398 --> 34:28.559 [SPEAKER_00]: So thank you so much for listening to another episode. 34:28.679 --> 34:30.480 [SPEAKER_00]: I love you guys and I'll see you in the next one.