The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to stay emotionally healthy and spiritually alive in the chaos of the modern world

The final chapter of Part 3 brings Comer to the last one of the practices of Jesus which he encourages his readers to consider. This practice—slowing—is a set of habits meant to teach one a more restful pace of life no matter what else might be going on in one’s external circumstances.

Here Comer returns to his proposal of a rule of life as laid out in Chapter 6, encouraging an assessment of one’s schedule and habits such that one can build a schedule that reflects the values one wants to pursue: “Again, the truism: we achieve inner peace when our schedules are aligned with our values” (220). Comer’s pastoral penchant for specificity in the practical applications he suggests comes out in the grab-bag of possible habits he proposes for growing toward a more restful pace of life. These applications include practices like not exceeding the speed limit, driving in the slow lane, choosing longer lines at the stoplight and grocery-store checkout, trading one’s smartphone for a “dumbphone” with fewer distractions, setting limits on social media usage, cooking one’s own food, getting rid of the TV, and practicing habits like journaling and meditation.

For each of these suggestions, Comer explains how one might achieve each practice.