CHANGE IS THE POINT

The Thinker

Stillness, as Ryan Holiday writes in Stillness is the Key is: “to be steady while the world spins around you. To act without frenzy. To hear only what needs to be heard. To possess quietude—exterior and interior—on command.”

Holiday continues: “[it] is that quiet moment when inspiration hits you. It’s that ability to step back and reflect. It’s what makes room for gratitude and happiness.”

Stillness begins with the Thinker.

Stillness may be perceived as the modern day equivalent to meditation or mindfulness and is the product of cultivating presence in acceptance of the current day context.

The idea of stillness – meditation or mindfulness – has deep roots in Eastern and Western philosophy and in the “doingness” of current day to day life, these roots have begun to penetrate the Western world. Now, more than ever, one finds themselves being urged to slow down, to stop and reflect; to be still, albeit for a moment; to be present.

This state is not found by doing. Rather it is a skill cultivated by weathering the chaos of one’s external environment, and remaining unmoved inside. And here is where the Thinker thrives.

In the above definition of stillness, Holiday distinguishes between these interior and exterior influences on one’s ability to be present, and how a mastery of each is necessary to achieve stillness.

For stillness is not a complete abolition of thoughts and external temptations, which may be traditionally associated with meditation or mindfulness. This is an absence of action, which would find one withdrawing from the world, disconnected from reality.

Rather, stillness is deliberate thought that incentivises action, and a graceful acceptance of the task at hand; an unwavering commitment to one’s current circumstance.

“To bear trials with a calm mind robs misfortune of its strength and burden” writes Seneca, another stoic philosopher and practiser of stillness. Acknowledgement of these interior (the calm mind) and exterior forces (the trails and misfortune) – as Seneca recognises – allows one to cultivate stillness.

The battle between these dualities – thinking and doing / interior and exterior – is tasked to each individual yet, the ability to cultivate stillness, is what allows one to elegantly balance these.

Stillness begins inside.

Stillness begins with the Thinker.