Pratique du Shadowing: The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down:… by Haemin Sunim · Audiobook preview - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec la vidéo
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The things you can see only when you slow down.
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How to be calm and mindful in a fast-paced world.
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By Haman Soonam.
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Translated by Chi Young Kim and Haman Soonam.
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This book is read by Sean Pratt.
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Prologue As a Zen monk and former professor at a small liberal arts college in Massachusetts,
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I am frequently asked for advice on dealing with life's challenges.
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In addition to sharing my advice in person and over email, a few years ago I began to answer questions over social
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networking sites as I enjoyed the feeling of making connections with people.
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My messages were generally simple, straightforward, and short.
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I sometimes wrote directly in response to a real-life question,
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sometimes as a quick note to myself when I discovered interesting patterns of thought in mindfulness practice or in interactions with people.
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I also discussed the value of slowing down in our busy
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modern lives as well as the art of maintaining good relationships and cultivating self-compassion.
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I did not anticipate the outpouring of responses to my tweets and Facebook posts.
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Many people started sending me messages not only to ask advice, but also to express appreciation and gratitude.
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I still remember a young mother who had lost her husband in a car accident
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and sent me a heartfelt thank you note for saving her from committing suicide,
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saying that she never thought about loving herself because love for her always meant giving it to someone else.
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A busy executive in his forties told me how wonderful it was to start his day with my messages.
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To him, they provided a moment of calm reflection and rest from his hectic schedule.
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A young recent graduate, discouraged after not finding a job, read my supportive words and gave the search another try, finally landing a job.
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When I read his news, I was overjoyed for a couple of days, as if I had gotten my first job.
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It made me profoundly happy that my simple messages could inspire people and help them in their times of difficulty.
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As my messages came to be shared by more and more people, and my number of Twitter and Facebook followers increased, people started calling me a healing mentor,
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which ended up becoming my nickname in Korea.
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I was then contacted by publishing companies offering to turn my writings into a book.
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In 2012, The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down came out in South Korea.
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To everyone's amazement, it stayed number one on the bestseller list for 41 weeks
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and sold more than 3 million copies in 3 years.
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Translations followed.
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Into Chinese, Japanese, Thai, French, and now, English.
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I am humbled by the attention the book has received
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and hope it can be of help to readers and listeners of English, just as it has been to readers in Asia and France.
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The book has eight chapters addressing various aspects of life,
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from love and friendship to work and aspirations and how mindfulness can help us in each.
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For instance, I address how to deal mindfully with negative emotions like anger and jealousy, as well as life's disappointments,
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digging deep into my past to share my experience of failure as a new college professor.
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If you are overly conscious, the three liberating insights from Chapter 6 can be quite helpful.
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If you are anxious about your future or unsure about your true calling, I offer advice on how to increase self-awareness and how to discover it.
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Each chapter opens with an essay, which is followed by a series of short messages, words of advice and wisdom addressed directly to you,
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to consider one by one and to reconsider and remember,
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so that they may accompany you in moments of anxiety or despair and remind you that you are not alone.
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Each chapter then continues with a shorter essay, followed by another series of short prompts for meditation.
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Some people read or will listen to the whole book quickly as they would a novel.
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However, I would recommend that you take your time
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and reflect on what you have just heard before moving on to a new chapter.
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You will enjoy it more and find deeper meaning as you go through each chapter slowly.
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You should feel free to make notes about the parts of the book that have resonated with you.
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I hope that spending time with this book becomes an occasion to reflect on and meditate in your busy life.
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I hope it inspires you to connect with the kinder and wiser side of yourself.
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May you be happy, healthy, peaceful, and always protected from harm.
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Chapter 1 Rest Why am I so busy?
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When everything around me is moving so fast, I stop and ask, is it the world that's busy, or is it my mind?
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We usually think of mind and world existing independently of each other.
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If someone asks where our mind is, most of us would point to either our head or our heart, but not to a tree or the sky.
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We perceive a clear boundary between what goes on inside our minds and what happens in the outside world.
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Compared to the vast world outside, the mind nestled inside the body can feel small, vulnerable, and sometimes powerless.
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According to the Buddha's teaching, however, the boundary between the mind and the world is actually thin, porous, and ultimately illusory.
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It is not that the world is objectively joyful or sad and produces a corresponding feeling in us.
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Rather, feelings originate with the mind projecting its subjective experience onto the world.
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The world isn't inherently joyful or sad.
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It just is.
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Perhaps we can better understand this through a conversation I had with a dear friend of mine, a responsible and meticulous Buddhist nun.
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She recently oversaw the construction of a meditation hall in her temple.
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After relating the ordeal of obtaining various permits and finding the right contractor, among other things, she described the construction process in the following way.
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When it came time to place tiles on the roof, I saw tiles everywhere I went.
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I noticed the material they were made of, their thickness, their design, and then, when it was time to install the floor, all I could see were floors.
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I naturally zeroed in on the color, origin, pattern, and durability of a hardwood floor.
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And then, it suddenly dawned on me.
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When we look at the outside world, we are looking at only a small part that interests us.
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The world we see is not the entire universe, but a limited one that the mind cares about.
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However, to our minds, that small world is the entire universe.
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Our reality is not the infinitely stretching cosmos, but the small part we choose to focus on.
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Reality exists because our minds exist.
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Without the mind, there would be no universe.
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The more I reflected on this, the more her insight made sense to me.
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The world comes to exist because we are aware of it.
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We cannot live in a reality of which we are unaware.
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The world depends on our minds in order to exist, just as our minds depend on the world as the subject of our awareness.
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But differently, our mind's awareness can be said to bring the world into being.
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What our mind focuses on becomes our world.
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Seen this way, the mind does not seem so insignificant in relation to the world out there, does it?
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We neither can nor want to know every single thing that happens in the world.
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If we did, we would go crazy from the overload of information.
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If we look at the world through the lens of our mind, the way my friend did, we will readily notice what we are looking for because our mind will focus on it.
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Given that the world we see through our mind's eye is limited, if we can train our mind and choose wisely where to focus,
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then we will be able to experience the world corresponding to the state of our mind.
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As a monk and a college professor, I am pulled in many different directions.
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During the week, I teach and conduct research, and on the weekend I drive a couple of hours to assume duties at my teacher's temple.
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During school breaks, my schedule becomes even busier.
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I need to visit senior monks, serve as an interpreter for monks who don't speak English, go to different temples to give Dharma talks,
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and carve out time for my own meditation practice.
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On top of that, I continue to research and write academic papers.
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To be honest, sometimes I wonder whether a Zen monk should keep to such a full schedule.
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But then I realize it isn't the outside world that is a whirlwind.
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It is only my mind.
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The world has never complained about how busy it is.
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As I look deeper into myself, I see why I am living such a busy life.
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I realize that, to a certain extent, I actually enjoy it.
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We hope you enjoyed this preview.
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To continue listening to this audiobook on Google Play Books, use the link in the video description.
Why practice speaking with this video?
The video titled "The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down" features Haemin Sunim, a Zen monk who shares insights into mindfulness and living a balanced life. Practicing your speaking skills with this video is beneficial because it presents real-life advice that's relatable and easy to digest. By shadowing Sunim's calm speaking style, learners can improve their pronunciation, intonation, and overall fluency in English. The context of the video offers a serene environment, making it easier for English learners to feel relaxed while practicing. Engaging with this content not only enhances English speaking practice but also encourages listeners to reflect on their lives, thus making the learning process more meaningful.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
In this video, several expressions and grammatical structures can be particularly useful for English learners:
- Simple Present Tense: Sunim frequently uses the simple present tense to convey universal truths, such as, "I am frequently asked for advice." This structure is essential for expressing routine actions or general facts.
- Imperative Form: Commands like "take your time" encourage mindfulness and underscore the importance of slowing down. Understanding how to use the imperative can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your speech.
- Conditionals: Phrases like "if you are overly conscious" illustrate how to express conditions and results, which is especially relevant in discussions about emotions and self-awareness.
- Direct Address: The use of direct address, such as "to you," engages listeners personally. This technique makes the advice more impactful and applicable to the audience's own experiences.
Common Pronunciation Traps
While practicing with this audio, English learners should be cautious of the following pronunciation traps:
- “Mindfulness”: Ensure the correct stress is placed on the first syllable to avoid sounding unclear.
- “Compassion”: Watch out for the pronunciation of the “comp” and “pass” syllables, as dropping sounds can lead to miscommunication.
- “Reflection”: Pay attention to the “f” and “sh” sounds; practice articulating them distinctly to improve clarity in speech.
By integrating these expressions and focusing on common pronunciation traps, English learners can use this video as a unique shadowing site to elevate their English speaking practice. Whether for everyday conversations or even IELTS speaking practice, the lessons from Haemin Sunim’s teachings can profoundly enhance your language skills. Learning through context will allow you to not only mimic the words but also understand the emotions they convey, thereby improving your shadow speech and overall communication in English.
Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?
Le Shadowing est une technique d'apprentissage des langues fondée sur la science, développée à l'origine pour la formation des interprètes professionnels. Le principe est simple mais puissant : vous écoutez de l'anglais natif et le répétez immédiatement à voix haute — comme une ombre suivant le locuteur avec un décalage de 1 à 2 secondes. Les recherches montrent une amélioration significative de la précision de la prononciation, de l'intonation, du rythme, des liaisons, de la compréhension orale et de la fluidité.