Slo Mo: A Podcast with Mo Gawdat

Haemin Sunim - Slow Down, and Let Your Love Catch Up

October 02, 2020 Mo Gawdat and Haemin Sunim Episode 49
Slo Mo: A Podcast with Mo Gawdat
Haemin Sunim - Slow Down, and Let Your Love Catch Up
Show Notes

Today's guest is my incredible friend Haemin Sunim, a Zen Buddhist teacher, bestselling author and founder of the School for Broken Hearts in Seoul. Haemin's body of work is so in-line with the goal of Slo Mo that I just had to have him on the show. If we haven't made enough of a case for why slowing down is good for you, let Haemin seal the deal for you in this brilliant conversation.

Born in South Korea and educated at Berkeley, Harvard, and Princeton, Haemin received formal monastic training from Haein monastery in South Korea and taught Asian religions at Hampshire College in Massachusetts for seven years.

These days, Haemin is one of the most influential Zen monks in the world, with over 1.5 million followers on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. His first book, The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down has been translated into more than 35 different languages and sold over four million copies. His second book, Love for Imperfect Things was the number one bestseller of 2016 in South Korea.

Listen as we discuss:

  • When your mind is slow, you can be present with all of your senses
  • Slowing down as a pre-requisite for feeling love and peace with your thoughts
  • Silence and Space as the arena for creative thought
  • Haemin's story, fueled by the question: "Why was I born?"
  • How studying religions led Haemin to monastic traditions
  • Not getting stuck in the symbolism of religions and seeing the common threads
  • Why are we born?
  • The pitfalls of familiarity and how it leads us to stop listening
  • The story behind the School for Broken Hearts
  • Life's benign intentions behind sending us suffering
  • The balance between standing up for change and also accepting what is
  • The two kinds of trauma
  • How imperfection allows connections
  • Why wiser people start to see humor in life
  • The deception of social media photos
  • Should we strive for perfection?

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Connect with Haemin Sunim on Instagram @haemin_sunim, Facebook @haeminsunim, on Twitter @haeminsunim, and his website haeminsunim.com

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Instagram: @mo_gawdat
Facebook: @mo.gawdat.official
LinkedIn: /in/mogawdat
X: @mgawdat
Website: mogawdat.com

Don't forget to subscribe to Slo Mo for new episodes every Saturday. Only with your help can we reach One Billion Happy #onebillionhappy