Stillness Is The Key
By: Ryan Holiday
Portfolio (October 1, 2019)
288 pages
Stillness Is The Key is a book about learning to slow down. We hustle and work and strive, but for what? Status? Money? Is it making us happy or achieving our mission? Let’s go after our dreams and goals, but let’s not get burnt out in the process. This book is in praise of the downtime of a long walk, or time in the shower, that brings with it that perfect idea or clarification. Don’t miss Holiday’s first two books in this series, The Obstacle is The Way and Ego Is The Enemy. If you want more on this topic, I enjoyed How To Be Idle, By: Tom Hodgkinson.
Two of my favorite quotes:
We want to learn to see the world like an artist: While other people are oblivious to what surrounds them, the artist really sees. Their mind, fully engaged, notices the way a bird flies or the way a stranger holds their fork or a mother looks at her child. They have no thoughts of the morrow. All they are thinking about is how to capture and communicate this experience. An artist is present. And from this stillness comes brilliance.
If true patience and clarity are what you seek in this life-and by the way, they are what you deserve-know that you will find them nearby and not far away. Stick fast, as Emerson said. Turn into yourself. Stand in place. Stand in front of the mirror. Get to know your front porch. You were given one body when you were born-don’t try to be someone else, somewhere else. Get to know yourself. Build a life that you don’t need to escape from.