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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.
Overstimulated, overscheduled, and lonely.
“All of humanity’s problems,” Blaise Pascal said in 1654, “stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
strategies to help us direct our thoughts, process our emotions, and master our bodies. So we can do less . . . and do more.
“like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands, unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it.”
In these situations we must: • Be fully present. • Empty our mind of preconceptions. • Take our time. • Sit quietly and reflect. • Reject distraction. • Weigh advice against the counsel of our convictions. • Deliberate without being paralyzed.
Marina Abramović’s
Remember, there’s no greatness in the future. Or clarity. Or insight. Or happiness. Or peace. There is only this moment.
The less energy we waste regretting the past or worrying about the future, the more energy we will have for what’s in front of us.
A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.
“If you wish to improve,” Epictetus once said, “be content to appear clueless or stupid in extraneous matters.”
What wild desires, what restless torments seize The hapless man, who feels the book-disease.
analysis paralysis.
To become empty is to become one with the divine—this is the Way.
an old Zen proverb to himself: Chop wood, carry water. Chop wood, carry water. Chop wood, carry water. Don’t overanalyze. Do the work. Don’t think. Hit.
“cutting free of impressions that cling to the mind, free of the future and the past,”
That space between your ears—that’s yours.
You don’t just have to control what gets in, you also have to control what goes on in there.
Think about what’s important to you. . . . Think about what’s actually going on. . . . Think about what might be hidden from view. . . . Think about what the rest of the chessboard looks like. . . . Think about what the meaning of life really is.
“quietness without loneliness.”
All profound things, and emotions of things are preceded and attended by Silence. . . . Silence is the general consecration of the universe.
Zen philosophy, a philosophy that finds fullness in emptiness.
Why do you think that? How do you know? What evidence do you have? But what about this or that?
People who don’t read have no advantage over those who cannot read.
FIND CONFIDENCE, AVOID EGO
the perils of ego, the importance of humility, and the necessity of confidence.
ego and imposter syndrome—but simple confidence? Earned. Rational. Objective. Still.
“unpretending hero, whom no ill omens could deject and no triumph unduly exalt.”)
focus, patience, breathing, persistence, clarity. And most of all, the ability to let go.
He wanted them to get lost in the process. He wanted them to give up their notions of what archery was supposed to look like.
What we should be doing is pushing away that willful will.
If the mind is disciplined, the heart turns quickly from fear to love.
We try, in the words of Marcus Aurelius, to “shrug it all off and wipe it clean—every annoyance and distraction—and reach utter stillness.”
Superior performance. Awesome clarity. Profound happiness. Yet that stillness is often fleeting. Why?
our three domains—the mind, the heart, and the body—must be in harmony.
“Strength and courage.”
“Patience and kindness.”
“Goodness and h...
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“gentleman is self-possessed and relaxed, while the petty man is perpetually full of worry.”
But virtue? No one can stop you from knowing what’s right. Nothing stands between you and it . . . but yourself.
What would I rather die for than betray? How am I going to live and why?
So that when everyone else is scared and tempted, we will be virtuous. We will be still.
Because we weren’t born rich enough, pretty enough, naturally gifted enough, because we weren’t appreciated like other children in the classroom,
“Hey, buddy. It’s okay. I know you’re hurt, but I am going to take care of you.”
Give more. Give what you didn’t get. Love more. Drop the old story.
“Of the seven deadly sins, only envy is no fun at all.”
To the Epicureans real pleasure was about freedom from pain and agitation.
“The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”
Most people never learn that their accomplishments will ultimately fail to provide the relief and happiness we tell ourselves they will.
The greatest misfortune is to not know contentment. The word calamity is the desire to acquire. And so those who know the contentment of contentment are always content.
