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Life without relationships, focused solely on accomplishment, is empty and meaningless (in addition to being precarious and fragile). A life solely about work and doing is terribly out of balance; indeed, it requires constant motion and busyness to keep from falling apart.
Our stillness depends on our ability to slow down and choose not to be angry, to run on different fuel. Fuel that helps us win and build, and doesn’t hurt other people, our cause, or our chance at peace.
All that you behold, that which comprises both god and man, is one—we are the parts of one great body. —SENECA
“an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it.”
the realization that we are all one, that we are all in this together, and that this fact is the only thing that truly matters.
the understanding that we are all connected—that we are all one—is a transformative experience.
we lose the selfishness and self-absorption at the root of much of the disturbance in our lives.
That one sees that the human race as one person,”
the active wishing of goodwill to other people, instead of schadenfreude, the active wishing of ill will.
To understand all is to forgive all. To love all is to be at peace with all, including yourself.
No one is alone, in suffering or in joy. Down the street, across the ocean, in another language, someone else is experiencing nearly the exact same thing. It has always been and always will be thus.
Finding the universal in the personal, and the personal in the universal, is not only the secret to art and leadership and even entrepreneurship, it is the secret to centering oneself.
We share a planet with billions of other sentient beings, and they all have their own complex ways of being whatever they are. All of our fellow animal creatures, as Aristotle observed long ago, try to stay alive and reproduce more of their kind. All of them perceive. All of them desire. And most move from place to place to get what they want and need.
The less we are convinced of our exceptionalism, the greater ability we have to understand and contribute to our environment, the less blindly driven we are by our own needs, the more clearly we can appreciate the needs of those around us, the more we can appreciate the larger ecosystem of which we are a part.
We are one big collective organism engaged in one endless project together. We are one.
We are the same.
Still, too often we forget it, and we forget ourselve...
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Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
suppose that the soul is at peace when the body is still.”
“movement is the foundation of stillness.”
Life is hard. Fortune is fickle. We can’t afford to be weak. We can’t afford to be fragile. We must strengthen our bodies as the physical vessel for our minds and spirit, subject to the capriciousness of the physical world.
We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones.
“It is a pushing age,”
and we must shove with the rest.”
The balance he maintained between flat-out work and creative and
restorative leisure is worth study by anyone holding a top position.”
Conservation of energy. Never stand up when you can sit down, and never sit down when you can lie down.”
The Stoics urged determination and iron self-will. The Epicureans preached relaxation and simple pleasures. The Christians spoke of saving mankind and glorifying God. The French, a certain joie de vivre
The happiest and most resilient of us manage to incorporate a little of each of these approaches into our lives, and that was certainly true of Churchill.
“Every night,” he said, “I try myself by court martial to see if I have done anything effective during the day. I don’t mean just pawing the ground—anyone can go through the motions—but something really effective.”
reliance on new activities that use other parts of our minds and bodies to relieve the areas where we are overworked.
The cultivation of a hobby and new forms of interest is therefore a policy of first importance to a public man,” he
To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, a...
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Painting challenged his intellect, appealed to his sense of beauty and proportion, unleashed his creative impulse, and . . . brought him peace,”
love the discipline you know and let it support you.”
The journey has been enjoyable and well worth making—once!
Epicurus once said that the wise will accomplish three things in their life: leave written works behind them, be financially prudent and provide for the future, and cherish country living.
the wise will accomplish three things in their life: leave written works behind them, be financially prudent and provide for the...
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He was special for what he didn’t do—for what he waited to do—and has stood as an important example to all leaders since. Especially the ones feeling pressure from themselves or their followers to be bold or take immediate action.
was the power of waiting, the power of precision, the power of the void. Because that’s what makes for a real pro. A truly great hitter—not just a swinger—needs quick hands and powerful hips, to be sure, but they must also possess the power of wu wei, or nonaction.
You don’t solve a maze by rushing through. You have to stop and think. You have to walk slowly and carefully, reining in your energy—otherwise you’ll get hopelessly lost. The same is true for the problems we face in life.
When we know what to say no to, we can say yes to the things that matter.
Walking was how he released the stress and frustration that his philosophical explorations inevitably created.
Life is a path, he liked to say, we have to walk it.
“I did the best thinking of my life on leisurely walks with Amos.”
The key to a good walk is to be aware. To be present and open to the experience.
Feel the unfamiliarity and the newness of these surroundings, drink in what you have not yet tasted.
It is instead just a manifestation, an embodiment of the concepts of presence, of detachment, of emptying the mind, of noticing and appreciating the beauty of the world around you.
In our own search for beauty and what is good in life, we would do well to head outside and wander around.
In an attempt to unlock a deeper part of our consciousness and access a high level of our mind, we would do well to get our body moving and our blood flowing.
