The deep, meaningful stuff. What makes up a life well-lived? That's the kind of conversation we had.
Meant to be inspiring. Maybe even life-changing.
Sounds like fun, right?!?!
Well... I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE ONE WITH (some) on-the-spot ANSWERS.
Oh, my.
Somehow, I made it through.
And I sound calm and chill
That was a big shock.
Must be the slow living effect.
Why you'll want to Listen into our talk about slow living
Lisa Heidle, co-host, asks: "Feel like your life is an out of control train? Listen to this conversation with Chwynyn Vaughan on The Ego Project where she shares how to embrace Slow Living."
And I put it like this: "Listen if you're interested in absorbing more joy from your daily life "
A Slow Botanicals customer and friend wrote to me: "You were present, calm, intelligent, insightful, spot on and beautiful. You directly answered the questions because it all there inside you, you live what you’re talking about. I was so impressed and felt so proud to think that’s my friend sitting there being so cool, talking with such wisdom and grace." -BM, Jewelry Designer, Point Roberts, Washington (Reading her words puts a catch in my throat. I'm so lucky to have beautiful friends like that in my life).
Watch Now Slow Living for a Beautiful Day to Day
Watch the interview on youtube. Or you can search "Chwynyn Vaughan" wherever you listen to your podcasts. You're more of a reader than a watcher? I understand. Me, too! Here's the transcript:
Introducing Chwynyn Vaughan of Slow Botanicals
Ego Project Conversations Host (EPC): Hi everyone it is the ego project and I am Lisa Heidl eand I am here with
Chistine Seidell and together we have Chwynyn Vaughan.
Welcome, Chwynyn, we're so excited to have you with us. We are going to be talking about slow living with Chwynyn today.
She is with Slow Botanicals I'm going to share her bio real quick and then we're going to start exploring exploring this idea of slow living. I'm so excited about this. We all need this. I know I do.
Okay, so Chwynyn Vaughan is the creator of Slow Botanicals, an all-natural organic skin care line, with a background in healthcare and design. Her passion for natural beauty knowledge of healthy skin and a deep love of local botanicals combine to inspire and inform her soaps, creams, balms and other products. Surrounded by her organic garden filled with vegetables, flowers and healing plants, Chwynyn has embraced slow living and hopes to educate and inspire others to do the same.
Okay, welcome Chwynyn. Anything else you want to add to that?
Chwynyn Vaughan (CV): No that's good that's good. I think the conversation will be more
interesting than the bio.
EPC: Oh you think so? I don't know, that's a great bio. All right. So, let's go ahead and get started. Can you define slow living for us?
What is Slow Living? A definition.
CV: Well, I think slow living comes from slow food and slow food was the antidote
to fast food. So, if you then relate that to slow living versus fast living and
think of fast food - well fast food is unwholesome, it's not nourishing, you're not thinking
about what you're doing. It's not thoughtful. It's not giving you life and health. It's really, you know, mindless living. And so slow living versus fast living fast living just really means we're going through the motions. We're floating through life we're not thinking and choosing. We're not being intentional. Our souls and hearts, they're not being filled. And so, I think slow living is really about slowing down your thoughts deciding what you want how you want to do it. How you feel fulfilled. It's it's not about the big, flashy Adrenaline Rush parts of life. It's really about all the little things you do every day. So anybody can can have
slow living because everybody's living and everybody can pull more quality into their life and make their choices.
EPC: Yeah, I love that I think that really reflects that intentional, intuitive way of living that calls us back to check in with ourselves and say "do I have integrity with how I'm moving through my life or am I just...?" And I love that comparison of fast food, you know, versus slow food. Is it just substance. Is it just this mass to say that we have something to eat or are we eating something that will really nourish us?
CV: Yes, and I think that as we nourish ourselves we learn what feels good and as we learn what feels good we do more of what nourishes us. And it's this positive feedback loop that just keeps building and building on itself. EPC: Absolutely, yes.
CV: And slow living is not about doing things slowly. A lot of people think that it's about doing things slowly. You can be a really busy person with a ton of different things on your plate. But those things that are on your plate are all really well chosen.
EPC: That's a great way to differentiate. It's not about being in, you know, slow movement but just being in alignment with what you're saying yes to.
CV: Yes, and saying no is a big part of slow living. There's a lot of "no".
EPC: Yeah , I need to learn about that a little bit more. That's a very that's a very good point too, that saying no is the foundation, right? Saying authentic yes and an authentic no.
CV: Exactly, and it's also just being really aware. There's that saying she can't see the forest for the trees, and I think part of slow living is that you get to see the forest and the trees. You have a big picture vision of how you want to be in your life and what you want it to be. And then you have all the small details that are your life. And what you're noticing and observing and choosing to live out, that makes up the trees, that makes the forest.
Personal journey to slow living.
EPC: Yes. What brought you to practicing slow living, Chwynyn?
CV: Well, I was thinking about that and I think it all started...I moved around a lot as a child and there was one period for several years where my dad gave up his job, he gave up his business, and we moved out to Northern Ontario (that's a province in Canada) and my parents bought this beautiful log house. It was in a very, very isolated area and so it was really cheap, but really beautiful, because nobody lived there. We lived, like, in the rural route 2 of a town of 500 people. So you can imagine, yeah, it was really really isolated. But
our house, in the back of our house is the forest, and in front of our house is our garden, and
then just below that was a really big river -that was more the size of a lake- but a river with a big beach. And then out in that you could see there were natural small islands where there was wildlife living. So all the time I was immersed in this experience of really what was slow. So if you wanted to have joy and happiness and be stimulated, you had to notice all those small things all around you and slow down and listen for the bird song and get excited about loon's mating, which is this whole synchronized dance they do, and get excited to go pick blueberries. And it's just, it was so fulfilling as a child, that I think I spent my whole life once we moved, wanting to get back to that place in myself. And so it was it was created then and I knew what felt good to me. And so it was as I got older, living the fast life you know, growing u[ in suburbs, living in cities, there was a part of me that wanted to have that experience again. So I think that's where it came from. And also that combined with when I was around 18 I decided that I didn't want to live a life of regrets, which meant that I had to also be clear on what I was choosing.
EPC: Wow, like how amazing to have that at 18. Like that conscious awareness of: I don't want to move through regret. But I think that experience in childhood, you know in childhood we're so open to receiving what feels right to us you and we can actually hear that Whisper of authenticity. To be able to, like, pull that experience and be, like, yes this is that feels so
good to me. This is who I am. CV: Yes, I think that probably we all even decided what we were going to do with our lives when we were children.
How does slow living impact personal growth work?
EPC: 100%. Yeah, we just had to we had to get take a lifetime of adulthood to get back to it, yes.
So, Chwynyn, how do you think slow living impacts personal growth and healing work?
CV: Well, I think it impacts it dramatically. This brings to mind, sort of a memory of working on an organic farm when I was 20 and having to weed for about nine hours straight for 10 days in a row. And you know that's real drudgery. It's time where you're not stimulated
and just sitting there and having to be caught in my own mind and having to start to really notice what I was doing. As again this really deep stimulation. This and I feel like I met all my demons during those 10 days. And I feel like that's a lot of what taught me about what slow living is. And it's not what I practice now - I wouldn't call that sort "the joy of life". But it slowed everything down, and that meaningful deep place where all of your thoughts are going on and you realize where you don't want to be and you realize where you do want to be. You have a lot of thinking time and I learned in that moment how to be with myself and once I learned how to be with myself, then I could do everything with a certain level of joy and a certain level of satisfaction and you don't need the adrenaline rushes the same way in order to feel joy. And you don't need to think about what someone else is thinking about you, and their perspective and perception of you, in order to feel whole and complete. And so I think that quiet time where you're doing something - and again this is where slow living takes drudgery and it turns it into something really beautiful. So, every day we have to wash the dishes. If while we're washing the dishes we can be fully there and notice the texture and the print on the dishes that we've chosen because when we chose those dishes we chose them because like "Wow I really like this print. It's so pretty, it's so me". And then, so often, we never look at it again, just in that moment where we bought it. So you're doing that drudge task of washing your dish, and you can take all the soulful, beautiful points of that plate - the print and the colors that you picked out - and absorb that and take it in and feel joy. So I feel like there's a lot of work that can be done in realizing how it's your choice if you're happy or not. And how to be happy or not in just the simple moments of everyday life and I think that's where it becomes available to everybody, too. It's not an aesthetic. It's not "Am I wearing linen and dancing through the fields and having a great dinner under a plum tree with close friends?" It's about the everyday moments of our life and how we pull the most out of that, to be in the space we want to be in.
EPC: It's so beautiful. And you know, really what I I kind of heard was that in the coming back to self, the healing doesn't have to be this huge production where we have to go to these, you know, retreat centers, for you know three months and Eat, Pray, Love and make sure that everybody is aware of what's going on, on our social media. That the healing and coming back to slow living actually occurs in simplicity. Like the simple withdrawal of life, in the discipline of doing that simple act. Or mindfully having the discipline to to do that. Because the 10 days of pulling weeds is such, like, it's almost like you were forced to be with yourself.
To withdraw back to yourself, like the calling back. The simplicity of pulling the weeds and the discipline of having to do that every day is really the rhythm that was created to hear that.
CV: Totally. And I was drawn to go do that 10 days on that farm, right, that fulfilled this vision I had of what I wanted my life to be like. And then you're in it, and you have a choice in it to either run from it, because it's really hard to live your vision - it sounds a lot easier usually than it actually is in that moment - so you can go through it or you can run away from it. And that's part of those details that build the life that we want to live.
EPC: Absolutely. Wow. Well, and it's the quote: "What do you do before enlightenment? You cut wood, carry water. After enlightenment? You cut wood and carry water".
CV: Exactly, exactly. That's right.
EPC: But your approach is different and thank you for sharing that because I think so often when people think about slow living, and about getting back to the basics, and no longer multitasking. Making sure that they're very present in the work that they're doing - that implies that they no longer get to do the things that they want to do, where it comes to building a career, having you know family time - you know all the things - because, well, I'm supposed to slow it down. It just means that you get to do the same things you just get to do them better.
CV: Exactly and much better. Yeah much, much better. Yes, exactly what you want to do. And you know, multitasking too, just a bit of multitasking. But it's not the way we usually see multitasking. So for instance, if you live in the city and you have to take the bus to work, you know you don't have a lot of money and you're living that way, well you can take knitting needles on the bus so you're multitasking. But really what you're doing is you're creating an environment for yourself where you get to slow down while you're doing what you have to do, which is the bus ride to work. So there is a multitasking in that way, where you find a way to make each moment fulfilling, even a moment that wouldn't have been fulfilling if you just say, scrolled down your feed on the bus. You can spend your time doing that or you can spend that time, you know if you like to knit, knitting. Or you can even have a journal and be writing, you know. Making use of that time in that way.
EPC: Well, and I think even, you know, as a collective, you know previously we've been all about being productive and producing and consuming, right? Just this external way of experiencing our life. And I think that there's a shift within a lot of us that are saying, "You know that hasn't really been satisfying, that every single moment has to be in producing something or consuming something." But that these moments can actually just be moments that feel joyful in the mindful decisions we make around them, even if we still have to be somewhat busy. You know, going to work, coming home from work. Those moments. You can still curate that beauty within.
What happens when you say no?
EPC: I think you said something in there and I'm not sure what it is now because I was really listening to you. But it brought up for a second what I was thinking about when you talked to question about working on yourself through slow living. And that comes back to the word no, and so I think there's also a really important component there.
CV: That's also a really difficult component - you know part of that ego work like you talk about - because when you're fulfilling yourself and you're saying no, you are also isolating yourself and so you're you're doing what's really meaningful and if that's slow, it's things that
other people don't notice, and so you say go to a party and suddenly part of the ego work is you're not very exciting. You know, people say "what's new?" and what's new is that, you know, there's a new pollinator in your garden that you noticed today - and that's the most thrilling thing that happened. But it means so much to you, you know? And you're saying no and people thinking that they don't matter to you when they do. But you have only so many hours a day in a day. And I'm sure as business owners you guys have this all the time you have to say you know to social situations because you're building your businesses, but then people think you don't care. And you also have to be really willing to face yourself on how that feels when less people are calling you and you're less exciting at a party. And you know, it isolating too. EPC: Yes, yes, and you know addressing maybe, for some people who have some of that codependency, the spectrum of wanting to people-please you. And understanding that you have to sit in the discomfort of people not being really happy that you're saying no (in order) to honor something that comes back to slow living. And you know, like you said, it can be very isolating when you start to hold space for yourself and know you have to be okay with how people feel about that.
CV: Yeah, definitely. So that is definitely part of the work, I'd say, of slow living it's accepting how other people see you. Accepting that they don't necessarily understand you anymore and accepting that you are not going to have a ton of friends, you know. Because you can't fit that in when you're doing the deep work of your life.
What's a way to define your own values?
EPC: Very true. Being able to create that world requires that you first have to define your values. And so being able to decide "okay, right now my values are personal work, they're professional work, family Life". Perhaps, you know others, you know your garden, as an example for you. Chwynyn. So can you talk a little bit about how you define your values and how other people can, you know, ask themselves those same questions?
CV: How do I Define my values? Well, I think it's really going in and feeling on a physical level how things make you feel. I think you know there's that test they talk about of, when you make a statement - if you go like this (outwards posture) or do you contract inwards - and that tells you how you're really feeling. So I think it's a lot of moving in, feeling your body physically, feeling how every emotional situation makes you feel, and how every physical situation makes you feel, and then slowly from there you if you don't know what your values are, I think your values become clear. Because it's so tangible. And then of course always noticing how you make other people feel around you with the choices you're making. Because we don't live in a vacuum and so when you have these value choices they also have to do with other people. So how are the choices that I'm making, that make me feel great, how are they making people in my family feel though? And that becomes part of that value system as well, and then taking the time to do things like journaling, which is
again getting in touch, and it's it helps you understand the meaning. I think all of these things help you to develop your value system and and for me the biggest thing is, like,
do I feel kind with what I'm doing right now? So I think that's a big thing too. Because when you slow down, you sort of notice how you feel about how you interact with other people because it's not just the rush, rush, rush. Here you're being present and it's like "am I being kind right now?" And if that kindness isn't there then it doesn't fit the value system. If the kindness is there, it fits of the value system. And so that also that has an impact on everything we do: like what we eat, how we move around, how we talk. All of these things when we're led by that kindness - that's part of determining each of our value systems.
EPC (Lisa): Christine when a client comes in and you're trying to help them really focus in on what's important in their lives, what are their values? Can you talk a little bit about the
first steps that you take to help them identify? EPC (Cristine): Well I think they're just almost exactly like Chwynyn just expressed. The first thing is to in some way, when we journey back to self, to withdraw in some way shape or form, which is coming back to the body. And being very aware of how our body responds, viscerally responds, to certain things that we're saying yes or no to, you know you can
start creating space in your life for that withdrawal. Whether it's a time every day that you spend processing through where you're at, what you have to do, and seeing: "is this a yes or a no for me, really?" You know, as I check in with my body, am I, like Chwynyn said opening up or am I closing down when I look at my response to this? And so, really, coming back to that withdrawal of intuitively checking in with yourself for that yes or that no, as you scan across what you're being asked to respond to. Whether it's energetically having to physically go and do something, or emotionally be available for something, your body has all of the real responses that you need to have. So I would always tell a client to create space in their day for that alone time with themselves, to check in on it. And then, the same thing, as you start defining your values, or you see your values, look at the people, the small circle that you've said yes to being your family or your support system, and how did those answers impact them. Because something may be a yes for us, but it may require us to be gone for two weeks and that may not be a yes for the people that may need us in that moment of time, right? So then taking time to find congruence between you may be
a yes and then the system and support that you count on and they count on for you, and then you know are you moving through these yeses more and more with joy or a sense of kindness or gratitude. Because that's really the vibration we want to move through in life and that we we all deserve to feel - is joy and gratitude and and when we feel that we are so filled with kindness and respect for everybody. We don't need to project any type of anger or fear or lack or scarcity. We just start moving through life freely and easily, even in things that may be difficult. We are able to curate and hold that gratitude because we're moving more slowly and more intentionally on the things that truly do matter to us. So, therapeutically, I really advise my my clients to do the exact same types of steps that Chwynyn is encouraging us to take back to slow living.
How does slow living influence your nervous system?
EPC (Lisa): I think calming our nervous systems is one of the best benefits of slow living. Don't you agree, Chwynyn?
CV: I completely agree, absolutely. I think that when you can sit with yourself, and you can sit and look around and observe - because I think slow living is a lot of observation that happens because you're observing what you do, you're observing what's in front of you, you're observing the people around you - you're very aware but it's not in that hyper-aware way that causes you pain. It's not that. It's something...it's a philosophy of slowness as you move through a busy day. And I think that really it just it makes you healthy...I don't know
how else to put it - it's just really healthy. And I think it takes away those feelings of scarcity. You talked about scarcity. I think that when you're deriving so much from every moment, that sense of scarcity goes away and it also gives you lots of moments to reframe everything. If something bad happens, it's so easy to jump into that gratitude because you know there's just other small moments around the corner that are fantastic. Because there's, just, the day's full of fantastic small moments and it doesn't mean that nothing goes wrong - because it does - it doesn't mean that the people around you don't impact you, because they do. But I feel like the bounce back is much quicker, the resilience is much greater.
EPC: Yes, I agree and I think that you know, Lisa, to your point about the nervous system, and you know, Chwynyn, what you were kind of saying is, the observation --- having your nervous
system constantly activated is not just impacting you, it's impacting everybody around you. Your relationships, your space, the chaos of a dysregulated nervous system is felt through all the Ripples. And so I think slow living, that withdrawal back, allows your nervous system the ability to start rooting itself and becoming very grounded. And then as you move back into, you come out of that withdrawal, and you're interacting with your relationships, they also get the benefit of that rooted, grounded nervous system because they compare themselves, their nervous system, to your nervous system, and so you know the ripple effect of this work is through many many layers of relationships, and even generations. If you can start doing that now, that's amazing.
CV: It's really, really true. Definitely.
Slow Living and recognizing when it's time to make changes.
EPC: I think being able to slow down enough, like you said, Chwynyn and Christine, to feel into your body, it also lets you know when a season has cycled through and you're ready to step into a new way of living. I think so often we're so busy - like I've started down this path, I've committed to this path, I'm going to do this, you know, no matter what, you know: just do, be, achieve. Right, Christine? As you say so beautifully. And there's times when we've completed a cycle: that part of our life, we've learned everything we needed to learn, we're ready to move into the next layer, and the next level of that, a new cycle. And if we're going at 100 speed, we don't feel it, we don't know that the cycle has ended. And so slowing down, being present, being in tune with your body, I think lets you know when it's time for something new.
CV: yeah, yeah, and I think that, you know, you're talking about the seasons. And seasons of the year. And as you learn how to notice the seasons of the year around you, you learn how to notice the seasons inside of yourself. And you see every year everything is born, it blooms, it dies. And it doesn't become so scary because you just realize that's part of being alive: that you're going to go through these. And you might keep circling it around the same ones over and over again through your life in slightly different variations just like the year goes around in slightly different variations. I think it becomes you're not scared. You're not scared of that change because that's just normal.
EPC: There's so much, such a metaphor. You know nature is such a metaphor for our own healing and growing process, right.
Influence of slow living on creating Slow Botanicals skin care products
EPC: And so how does nature influence what you're doing with Slow Botanicals? I'm sure everything!
CV: Well, yes, right there. I think a big part is what you said about how nature has all these metaphors and it helps us. But I think the reason is, is that essentially we're part of nature. We're not separate from nature. So that's the biggest thing, is just really being a part of nature rather than being beside nature or outside of nature.
EPC: Or just observing nature, yeah, but that you are rooting yourself, too.
CV: Yes, and I'd say with the botanicals that I use, they work so well because we have
evolved to be with these plants forever. On every level. So again, we're not outside of nature. Nature is a part of us and although we've lived in often in these cities that are very separate from what nature is, our bodies still crave nature on every level. Our psyches crave nature. Like the best music, that makes you feel the most alive and beautiful inside, is bird song because that's the music we heard for forever. And then our bodies, physically, all the plants and flowers that grow - it's always amazing to me how they all have exactly what we
actually need. How we evolved and developed together. And then just to have a cup of coffee in the garden, and just to have your eyes open and your ears open and the fragrance. While you have that, while you look at the plants around you - that's that's the most blissful moment of the day.
EPC: And that's where you actually are open to so much of the wisdom that you already contain. We are always trying to overthink ourselves into a decision, or if I think about this more, if I talk to more people, I'll get the answer. But really, it's that withdrawal, looking, being, experiencing nature, where we can access that intuitive wisdom and that authority that has all of the answers. It'll say a yes or a no very clearly.
CV: And a lot of it, you don't even know it's happening. It's happening on such a cellular level. Like they say if you have a heart attack and you're going to the hospital, if you're put in a basement room without a window you will most likely die. If they put you in a room where you're overlooking some trees, you're probably going to have a really high survival rate. You're not actively thinking about that. That's not a problem you're trying to solve. It's just your whole body is actually responding because that's what we're meant for.
EPC: Wow.
CV: And so I think that psychological healing happens in the same way.
EPC: Absolutely, absolutely.
CV: And the answer will just pop into your head, too, like you say. You have a problem, you stop thinking about it, and that's when you get the answers.
EPC: Yeah we stop working against ourselves. You start working with yourself. CV: And I get an incredible joy, too, just going out and being with the flowers and harvesting them and listening to them. There's just something so wonderful about working with things that are real.
EPC: Yeah.
CV: Watching. Planting a seed and watching it grow. And nourishing it and then picking it and then making something out of it, that then nourishes myself in a different way and nourishes other people. Just all those Cycles happening.
EPC: Yeah, it'd beautiful. I need to maybe talk to my therapist about my green thumb, then, because I'm struggling to keep any of my things alive in my yard and in my containers.
CV: Well, there's so many facets that go into that, it could even just be your soil.
EPC: Yeah, that probably is a lot of it. Yeah, but it's funny because I hear you talk about that and it's just like there's so much beauty. Even if you can't curate that in your own yard or your own space. To listen, it sounds like such poetry to even just hear people talk about the flowers and the and the trees. Even just talking about it, or listening to somebody, seeing it in art even, that has a place for us to reconnect to. That you don't have to be, you don't have to have the rural property in a place where you can run barefoot, that's not accessible to everybody. But we can all access the beauty of it.
CV: Totally, And that's the thing I felt really guilty about when I moved to where I live. Oh, I get to have this garden and not everyone gets to do this. And I just feel like I shouldn't be able to have this when other people don't have this. But yeah, we can take nature in other ways. EPC: I love what you said about it could just be the soil because isn't that symbolic? We can take it all back to "it's always the soil". Yeah, right?
CV: It's always the soil.
EPC: It's always the soil that helps us grow.
CV: And you can always amend the soil. I'm always building my soil.
How to begin to explore slow living.
EPC: What do you offer as a way for of advice for people who want to explore this slow
living movement? Like someone comes to you and says "Hey, I'm really busy. I'm
overwhelmed. I'm stressed. I don't even know where to start." What is the first thing you would tell them, Chwynyn?
CV: The first thing I would say, hmm... I think that I would say, find a way to find one thing that you do every day, that either you really can't stand doing, that you have to do, or that really, really brings you great joy. Pick either of those and just every day when you do that one thing, notice how it makes you feel, and then just try to deepen your experience with it. So if you hate cooking, try to imagine while you cook, because you have to do it, that what you're doing is going to nourish the people around you, that it's going to give you health. That as you do it, there's a sizzle that you never noticed before. Notice that sizzle. Notice the scent. Just really jump as deep into that task as you can. So that's whether you can't stand it or you love it - and I think the extremes are really helpful because I think it's in the extremes that we really notice. And then we can bring it into the less extreme parts of our life. But that's what I would say: just jump in as deep as you can you can, even say set a timer for 15 minutes of that moment when you're say cooking a meal. And for those 15 minutes you have to dig in really deep and then you can just relax and not think any more about it. But that's what I'd say, just start small and just take as much experience out of it as you can. And that also means noticing what you don't like about it, as part of that. Don't cut off any of the feelings you're having, while at the same time knowing that your goal is to to savor it.
EPC: Yeah, yeah. I love that. I love the idea of feel it all, you know there are no bad emotions, right, it's the label? It's the labels we put on it of good and bad.
CV: Yeah, and what we let them then do to us. How we react to those and respond to them. Because ultimately, I really feel like ultimately we live with other people, and so we do have to watch our reaction to those bad things and how we're going to impact others around us. And also how we're then going to go take that: are we going to have gratitude for that awful thing that happened and take the best out of it or are we going to be really upset by what happened and then take the worst out of it. So I think it's also that. So that's what I meant with the forest for the trees. You want your Forest to be a healthy forest. That means not denying that unhealthy part, but then trying to see how you can transform that to making you ultimately healthier or more whole.
EPC: I think that kind of goes, especially, with those uncomfortable emotions we may
experience or that moment that is not our favorite moment. If we don't, just, experience it and allow ourselves to move through it, we continue to ride it. And that's where we get very stuck. Whereas if we find ourselves moving through it on the other side of it, we tend to find something positive. But we avoid getting to that place.
CV: Yeah, oh yeah, and this is a whole other topic, but I know the worst thing that ever happened to me became the best thing that ever happened to me because I went through it and I felt it and I experienced it and I didn't numb it. Yeah, and on the other side of those discomforts is the most beautiful space that we can ever have because we take so much, so
much, with us through that going through.
EP: We do, yeah. (Lisa): Well we would love to have you come back and maybe explore that really bad thing that happened, because we like to talk about everything here [Laughter].
Cristine, do you have any other questions for Chwynyn. I love this conversation. Do you have any other follow-up questions for her? (Cristine): I don't but I just so appreciate the conversation. And and this conversation actually was just very soothing, and and very rooted in feeling authentic and coming back to that intuitive part of us that that leads us with integrity and authenticity. And I think that that really is kind of the foundation of what you're teaching people through slow living ...is to move through your life with Integrity. That at 18 you had the wisdom to say "I don't want to have regret", and we get to make that choice every day. It doesn't matter where you have been, you get to make that choice in the small ways every single day. So I just, I so appreciate the conversation and the bringing of nature into it because there is such beauty and rhythm that we can learn from on how to live through watching and being part of nature again.
CV: Yeah, and thank you for using those words, "authenticity and integrity" in that, because just hearing those words felt really good. That's what slow living really is about and that's something that we all can use more of in our lives.
EPC: We can, absolutely.
CV: Thank you for having me on.
EPC (Lisa): It does feel very calming. I keep repeating the idea of a gentle empowerment. That's the way it feels. I feel gently empowered. So thank you, Chwynyn, for that. You brought that gift here and I think listeners are going to feel that, as well. So thank you. Now, if people want to learn more about you and the products that you sell online, how can they find you?
CV: I have a website, and it's slowbotanicals.com. I also write a blog there, I'll
talk about skin care, but I can never get away from insights and psychology while
I'm writing about anything that has nothing to do with psychology and personal insights. So, yeah...laughing.
EPC: Yeah, it does, but yet it does.
CV: Exactly.
EPC: We will put your information in the the description notes as well so that people
can find you. And we would love to have you join us again in the future. Thank you so much.
CV: Oh, that would be wonderful. And thank you so much for having me.
EPC: Our pleasure. All right, thank you everyone, and go do a little slow living, okay? All right, thank you, bye-bye.
CV: Thanks. Take care, bye.
Enjoyed reading the transcript? Watch now - slow living for a beautiful day to day. On Youtube. Subscribe to the Slow Botanicals newsletter.