Based on the book by Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key

First of all, what is stillness? Well stillness is the lack of movement, but it’s not as simple as that. 

The main idea of the book “is that our three domains—the mind, the heart, and the body—must be in harmony.” 

Within the mind section, Holiday talks about the importance of staying calm, especially when everybody else or everything else around us is in chaos. Allow the muddy waters to settle and become clear.  Remain steady while the world spins around you. Be like a rock that the waves keep crashing over. Then act without frenzy.

All of the ancient philosophies promoted quiet contemplation. Whether it is called prayer or meditation, being quiet leads us to peace and tranquility. Our minds tend to wander, but if we can become aware of this, we can live more in the present moment. As the Russian author Leo Tolstoy says, “it is impossible to love in the future.” Ryan says this is basically true of everything we think, feel or do.

The best athletes, in the biggest games, are completely there. They are within themselves, within the now. Remember, there’s no greatness in the future, or clarity or insight or happiness or peace. There is only this moment. This does not mean just the minute we are in, but a continuous present.

Some people may think stillness is just sitting on the couch doing nothing or being lazy, but that’s missing the point. It’s within the stillness that the truth is revealed. By being quiet and emptying the mind of external thoughts, we can then focus on what is really important: the big questions, the complicated things. We can then do our deep thinking. From this we will better understand which are the right actions to take.

Other advice in the book is to journal: keep a diary. I have suggested this elsewhere to improve your English. So you could combine these two activities and ‘kill two birds with one stone’. Take time in the morning when it’s quiet to prepare for the day ahead. At the end of the day, reflect on what has passed. Try to find a quiet moment.

The book also covers a number of topics that we have discussed in other English cafes. Such as seeking wisdom and never ceasing our education. He talks about the inner child in all of us, and how we can ‘heal our inner child’. The process of always wanting more means we will never be content or satisfied. We may be able to earn more money and pull ourselves out of poverty, but we cannot satisfy our spiritual poverty in the same way.

He mentions the word bathing. Now this is cleansing and you can even do forest bathing. You need to conquer your anger, and not get caught up in strong emotions. Take a walk. Seek solitude and quietness, like Bill Gates does on his yearly retreat, or Virginia Woolf advised fellow females to have ‘A Room of One’s Own.’ Seek hobbies that you enjoy that can restore you.  Use leisure as a reward for work.  We can be our minds can be still in our bodies. R. And furious action. 

Beware of the allure of escapism: the desire to travel to distant places and ‘get away from it all’ can be distracting. In the end, we cannot escape ourselves, so look within and conserve your energy. Winston Churchill achieved so much in his life but also found time for leisure activities, for quiet. And when ask he stressed the importance of conservation of energy. Be moderate with moderation, be disciplined in your discipline, find time for joy, be brave, and finally, do good deeds. 

The book finishes with a nice little quote. From Leonardo DaVinci: “As a well-spent day brings a happy sleep, so a well-employed life brings a happy death.”