The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down//Haemin Sunim A review by Maria Staples

"When life becomes busy and overwhelming, it's often the simplest truths that are the easiest to forget and the most helpful to be reminded of."

Maria is juggling full-time work, older children, ageing parents and the general mental load that comes with all of it. She tries to be a delight. She doesn't always manage it. You can find her doing her best somewhere in the middle of a busy, slightly chaotic life.

I'll be honest. When I first picked up The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down, I fully expected it to be the kind of book people leave lying around to signal how calm and enlightened they are. You know the look: artfully placed next to a houseplant, a linen throw and a cup of something herbal. I suspected it might be a bit too spiritually wah-wah for me.

However, I ended up really quite liking it.

This isn't a book you sit down and devour in one go, which is fortunate because most of us don't have that kind of time anyway. Instead it's designed to be dipped into, picked up for a few minutes here and there when you need a pause. That format suited me perfectly, especially as it arrived at a particularly hectic point in my life. At 55, juggling full-time work, older children, ageing parents, and the general mental load that comes with it all, the idea of slowing down felt more like wishful thinking than an achievable goal.

Written by Korean Zen monk Haemin Sunim, the book doesn't attempt to turn you into a meditation expert or have you up at dawn seeking enlightenment. Instead it offers a series of gentle reflections on everyday themes: mindfulness, relationships, self-compassion, work, love and spirituality. Each chapter is broken into short, bite-sized insights, more like a collection of thoughtful observations than a structured guide. Easy to read, easy to return to, and crucially, easy to understand when you're tired or distracted.

Some readers might find the tone a little light, or even obvious at times. And yes, much of what Sunim says does feel like common sense. But perhaps that's exactly the point. When life becomes busy and overwhelming, it's often the simplest truths that are the easiest to forget and the most helpful to be reminded of.

What makes this book is its warmth and lack of judgement. There's no sense of being told off for living a rushed, overcommitted life, which is just as well because many of us are doing our best just to keep up. Instead, it gently nudges you to pause and reflect, without making you feel like you're failing if you can't suddenly become a serene, slow-living expert overnight.

One idea that particularly stayed with me was about love. How, if we are lucky enough to love and be loved, then we are already incredibly fortunate. It's a simple thought, but it landed at exactly the right moment. In the middle of feeling like there weren't enough hours in the day, it was a reminder that the most important things are often already present. We just don't always stop to notice them.

In the end, The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down is a gentle, comforting read. It won't radically transform your life or suddenly grant you endless time and patience, but it might help you carve out a few small moments of reflection in an otherwise busy day. And sometimes that's exactly what's needed.

Not life-changing, perhaps. But quietly life-affirming. And in the middle of a busy, slightly chaotic life, that feels like more than enough.