Stillness Is The Key (Ryan Holiday)

 

Books like this are changing my life. Love it! I've been trying to meditate daily since March and I believe it is making a difference in how I handle the back to school stress of school during a pandemic. 

Quotes and notes:

Page xiv

To Seneca and his fellow adherents of stoic philosophy, if a person could develop peace within themselves - if they could achieve apatheia, as they called it-then the whole world could be at war, and they could still think well, work well, and be well. "You may be sure that you are at peace with yourself, "Seneca wrote, "when no noise reaches you, when no word shakes you out of yourself, whether it be flattery or a threat, or merely an empty sound buzzing about you with unmeaning sin." In this state, nothing could touch them (not even a deranged emperor), no emotion could disturb them, no threat could interrupt them, and every beat of the present moment would be theirs for living.

A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention - Herbert Simon

p. 31 Napolean was content with being behind on his mail, even if it upset some people or if he missed  out on some gossip, because it meant that trivial problems had to resolve themselves without him. We need to cultivate a similar attitude - give things a little space, don't consume news in real time, be a season or two behind on the latest trend or cultural phenomenon, don't let your inbox lord over your life.

p. 32 In her diary in 1942, Dorothy Day, the Catholic nun and social activist, admonished herself...."Turn off your radio," she wrote, "put away your daily paper. Read one review of events and spend time reading." Books, spending time reading books - that's what she meant. Books full of wisdom.

(Stillness is the Key, Ryan Holiday, p. 32) Goodreads says: In The Obstacle Is the Way and Ego Is the Enemy, bestselling author Ryan Holiday made ancient wisdom wildly popular with a new generation of leaders in sports, politics, and technology. In his new book, Stillness Is the Key, Holiday draws on timeless Stoic and Buddhist philosophy to show why slowing down is the secret weapon for those charging ahead.

All great leaders, thinkers, artists, athletes, and visionaries share one indelible quality. It enables them to conquer their tempers. To avoid distraction and discover great insights. To achieve happiness and do the right thing. Ryan Holiday calls it stillness--to be steady while the world spins around you.

In this book, he outlines a path for achieving this ancient, but urgently necessary way of living. Drawing on a wide range of history's greatest thinkers, from Confucius to Seneca, Marcus Aurelius to Thich Nhat Hanh, John Stuart Mill to Nietzsche, he argues that stillness is not mere inactivity, but the doorway to self-mastery, discipline, and focus.

Holiday also examines figures who exemplified the power of stillness: baseball player Sadaharu Oh, whose study of Zen made him the greatest home run hitter of all time; Winston Churchill, who in balancing his busy public life with time spent laying bricks and painting at his Chartwell estate managed to save the world from annihilation in the process; Fred Rogers, who taught generations of children to see what was invisible to the eye; Anne Frank, whose journaling and love of nature guided her through unimaginable adversity.

More than ever, people are overwhelmed. They face obstacles and egos and competition. Stillness Is the Key offers a simple but inspiring antidote to the stress of 24/7 news and social media. The stillness that we all seek is the path to meaning, contentment, and excellence in a world that needs more of it than ever.