006 Emma Slade: The capacity for kindness is in all of us
“Here I am about to die and I’ve done nothing. Nothing that’s been really joyful, nothing which has been really kind, nothing which has been full of love, nothing which has actually made any difference at all. Other than that I know a lot of facts and I’ve looked at a lot of spreadsheets, and I haven’t really fully come alive, and I’m about to die. I really don’t want it to end before I get a chance to get on with what I’m actually meant to do.” This week, I talk to Buddhist nun Emma Slade, someone whose epiphany moment is perhaps one of the most incredible of all. Taken hostage at gunpoint during a business trip in Jakarta, Emma - then working in finance for HSBC - was faced with staring down the last three seconds of her life, and considering what that life had been. And, in that moment, she found her life wanting. On returning to London, both changed by the experience and inspired by the overwhelming compassion she felt for her attacker, she left finance and took up yoga and travel, eventually finding her way to Bhutan and Buddhism. She has since written a book on her transformative life, presented a Ted talk and runs a charity in Bhutan as well as supporting people through coaching and workshops. “The capacity to be a kind person is always there,” she says. “Even if you can’t see it.” In this fascinating interview, we talk about how compassion and kindness can be profound drivers for change, and how we need our epiphany moments to help us get to the truth of our lives. Emma also talks about purpose being a path, and how in our lives everything that we do has a place - a sort of ‘gathering of talents’ which we bring to our mission when we eventually find it. For Emma, a mission is about identifying that one place where you know that you can make a difference, something she says is possible for everyone to find.