Stillness Is the Key

Most philosophical traditions of the ancient world exalted “stillness.”

Buddhists called it upekkha. To Muslims, it was aslama. The Greek Stoic philosophers spoke of apatheia, and the epic verse Bhagavad Gita praised this attitude as samatvam. The English rendering is “stillness.”

Stillness is the ability to find equanimity amid the turbulence of life. If you can cultivate imperturbable inner calm, you can devote full focus to your activities rather than allowing your attention to fracture – with one bit expressing irritation with street noise, another brooding over money problems, and so on.

Stillness is the power that a skilled athlete draws on to make the perfect move. It is the birthplace of inspiration and sudden insights, and the awareness with which you appreciate the moments that make up a full life. 

“When basically all the wisdom of the ancient world agrees on something, only a fool would decline to listen.”

Stillness is not an esoteric state that only a select few can attain. You have experienced moments of stillness, and it’s present in everyone. Cultivating stillness is difficult, particularly in the hyper-connected modern world. But with the right combination of knowledge and discipline, you can do it. To begin, turn your attention to the three “domains” of human life: the mind, the spirit and the body.

The first step toward stillness is to temper the mind.

To perform at your best, you mustn’t just react to problems. Instead, think deeply about them, view the issues from different perspectives and patiently seek the best solutions. President John F. Kennedy took this approach in 1962 after the CIA discovered that the Soviets were constructing missile sites in Cuba. Kennedy’s advisers counseled that the United States should answer the provocation swiftly: Destroy the sites and follow up with an invasion of Cuba.

“We must cultivate mental stillness to succeed in life and to successfully navigate the many crises it throws our way.”

Kennedy refused to react. He insisted that he and his advisers take the time to study the problem. He sought to understand the Russian perspective, to learn why they would risk such a dangerous affront. He determined that the Russian premier, Nikita Khrushchev, had pursued this course because he believed Kennedy to be weak. The president decided that a naval blockade of Cuba showed strength, and it also bought time for Khrushchev to reconsider his actions. Eleven days later, Khrushchev agreed to negotiate the removal of the missiles.

To enlist your mind in your quest for stillness, cultivate these habits:

• Be here now – Strive to be fully present in each moment. It’s easy to let your mind wander, to ruminate over past problems or worry about future events. But when you do, you miss out, because life unfolds in the present. Being present in each moment is difficult and demands effort. Limit your access to media and its endless distractions. Seek out opportunities to experience silence, a rare commodity today.
• Take time to think – Don’t always go with your first impressions or follow your gut instincts. Take time to see hidden elements in any situation. Buddhists compare the world to “muddy water.” They teach that you need to wait until the water settles before you can see clearly. Keeping a journal slows your thoughts, and lets you examine yourself and the issues that face you.
• Know when to empty your mind – Thinking is important, but danger lurks in overthinking or second-guessing about what to do and when to do it. Act with a spirit of “detachment”: Empty your mind of thoughts, let go of worries about the results and be fully present. 
• Keep learning – Ancient schools of philosophy agree on the importance of knowledge and understanding. Learn from your experiences, tap the wisdom of the ages through books, and seek mentors and teachers.
• Cultivate confidence, not ego – Confidence is a strength. It comes from an honest assessment of your abilities and knowledge. Confidence can still your doubts and fears. 

You must tend to the state of your soul.

Your spiritual life includes more than your religious faith. Even nonbelievers must look after their souls. 

 “It is our soul that is the key to our happiness (or our unhappiness), contentment (or discontent), moderation (or gluttony) and stillness (or perturbation).”

Under the severe tutelage of his father, Tiger Woods mastered the physical and mental demands of his sport at the expense of caring for his soul. In his first decade or so as a pro, he reigned as a colossus. Woods had mastered the stillness golf required. But outside of the game, he was a tempest of anxiety and need. His life became a circus of tabloid-scandal clichés.

To nourish your soul, adopt these habits:

• Strive for virtue – Cultivate a personal moral code and establish a clear account of your values. When you live a virtuous life, you act with confidence because your values give you a compass. Without this code, temptation and desire can buffet your soul.
• Care for the child within – Many adults carry psychological pain from events they suffered in childhood. Think about the distress you endured as a child, and strive to reassure the frightened child who still exists in your psyche. View your old stories from an adult perspective to disarm the fear and insecurity that block stillness.
• Tame troubling emotions – Some emotions, such as lust, envy and anger, throw the soul into turmoil, making stillness impossible. Ancient traditions identify desire as a particular enemy of happiness. The feeling of having enough comes from appreciating what you already possess.
• Surround yourself with beauty – When you encounter beauty in nature or art, you transcend the limits of individual identity. With practice, you can find the beauty in everything from the day dawning on a mountaintop to the sight of a cat’s paw prints in the dust.
• Surrender to a higher power – To be still, become aware of things that are much larger and infinitely more powerful than yourself. For many people, this “higher power” is God, but other ways exist to conceptualize it. For the Stoic philosophers of ancient Greece, the higher power was the logos, the “path of the universe.” The Chinese speak of the dao, or “the Way.” What matters is the sense of acceptance and surrender, the acknowledgment that the universe is much greater than you and your concerns, and that you are not in control of it. This perspective gives rise to a realization of how all people are connected through the mystery of life – everyone is part of a thread that runs through countless generations.
• Cultivate relationships – Your personal connections with others are among the most important aspects of life. Maintaining relationships requires continually rejecting your worst impulses and always living up to your highest ideals.

Support your body’s health and fitness.

Mental health and spiritual health depend on physical health. With his stout figure, Winston Churchill may not seem like the exemplar of vigorous physicality, but his biography offers many lessons on the power of activity. In his eventful life, Churchill worked as a war correspondent, wrote more than 40 books, served with the Royal Scots Fusiliers and held several positions in the British government, including prime minister. 

“We need to be strong enough to resist thinking that is too neat, too plausible, and therefore almost always wrong.”

Churchill worked hard all his life, but he avoided burnout because he was scrupulous about conserving and restoring his energy. He took a daily nap, and found restoration in walking, painting and bricklaying.

To be good to your body, cultivate these habits:

• Practice waiting – Sometimes the best course of action is no action. In baseball, elite batters don’t swing at every pitch. They wait patiently for the ideal throw. The Roman commander Fabius used waiting as a strategy against Hannibal’s forces. Instead of charging into battle, he did nothing. Many Romans considered this cowardly, and Roman assemblies eventually voted for a more aggressive response. The result was a terrible defeat. Only then did they see the brilliance of Fabius’s strategy: He had reckoned that by using time as an ally, he could wear down his opponents’ forces, which were far from home and at the mercy of the elements. 
• Walk – Many of the world’s most famous thinkers insisted that their best ideas came to them while they were walking. Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Tesla, Dickens, Steve Jobs and Martin Luther King, Jr. were all committed walkers. Walking’s intentional, repetitive movements contain all the qualities of stillness in microcosm. Walking gives you a way to practice slowing down, sustaining awareness and emptying your mind of thoughts.
• Follow a routine – Extend the benefits of repetitive motion to your day, turning daily activities into a ritual. Establishing a consistent routine liberates the mind. Instead of worrying about what comes next, the mind relaxes into a more effective and productive state.
• Prune your possessions – Accumulating too much stuff can become a burden. The psychological weight of physical objects – the responsibilities of keeping them secure, finding room for them and paying the debt you assumed to get them – can drag you down, even if you’ve achieved mental and spiritual freedom. Go through your possessions, and throw out or give away things you never use.
• Find moments of solitude – If you spend a lot of time amid the hubbub of society, create balance by seeking opportunities for solitude. You needn’t remove yourself to a distant glade. You can find or create moments of solitude wherever you are. For example, Leonardo da Vinci used to arrive early at the monastery where he was painting The Last Supper to be alone with his thoughts and his work.
• Get enough sleep – Without sleep, without the replenishment of your energy, your work suffers, you make more mistakes, you tend to think more negatively and you make poorer decisions.
• Pursue a hobby – Revise your attitude toward “leisure” time. You don’t need to see it as a period of indolence and lack of productivity. The Greeks referred to it as scholé, their word for school. The hobbies you pursue in your leisure time rejuvenate your soul. For example, British prime minister William Gladstone relaxed by chopping trees and pruning the forests near his home. Composer John Cage hunted mushrooms. Einstein played the violin, and numerous Japanese warriors and generals took up flower arranging.
• Put your body to good use – The body can play an important role in a virtuous life. You’ll feel better when you commit your body to benefiting others. Volunteer for community projects, help people who are in danger or distress, and take a stand for what you know is right. ”If we want to be good and feel good, we have to do good.”

Bentley Moore Executive

We hope that you found this summary both insightful and of use.

Learn More About Us and Our Services

Contact Us

Email:             [email protected]

Web:               www.bentleymoore.co.uk

LinkedIn:        https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/bentley-moore-executive

                        https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/jasongeorgebme/

                        https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/davidmparkin/

• Tel:                0333 012 9079

About the Author

Writer and media strategist Ryan Holiday is the founder of the creative agency Brass Check and the former director of marketing for American Apparel.