Calm begets calm.
Action begets action.
Brick begets brick — literally.
In 1940, when most political statesmen were in the halls of power in Westminster, or in the war rooms of London… One of the most powerful men in the world, who was possibly the most crucial to the victory over Germany, was laying bricks for a house on his property in the English countryside.
Winston Churchill reminds us yet again: those that make a contribution to our world, seem to have a contradictory nature — they have little time but make time for nothing.
Churchill wrote some 10 million words, but he also painted, gardened, kept animals, and yes - laid brick.
Calm was a kind of primacy.
The kind that could generate a life-changing thought.
A walk. A moment.
A surreal feeling capable of generating a logical change.
Recovery in the repition…
Nietzsche used to say, “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking”
Aristotle walked. Thoreau walked. Kant walked.
Dickens, Wolf, Wordsworth, Beethoven, Rousseau, Gandhi, Roosevelt, and Lincoln all walked.
Cal Newport walks. Ryan Holiday walks. Jason Fried walks. Dan Koe walks.
Almost every single person that I’ve studied has a serious (non trivial) walking habit. That is: they walk or are in a form of “stillness of the soul” for HOURS per day.
Why aren’t you?
I get it. I’ve been running from something too.
I often despise stillness and quiet.
Holiday mentions how it reminds us of Death, and he’s pretty spot on.
I hate thinking of Death.
My dad hasn’t died, nor has my mom, nor my wife’s parents.
…And I really dread the day those things happen.
And I think of those when there’s nothing left to think about…
But, that shouldn’t keep us from embracing Stillness.
If anything, it should encourage us.
We need a relationship with Death: as Seneca and Marcus Aurelius said.
We need to form a dance with Death: as Carlos Castaneda said.
We need to love Death: as nobody could say but should.
That would be the ideal scenario: to love what gives us back as much as what brought us here.
And if able to avoid the thought of Death, one may still say, “stillness is too challenging”, “I have too many thoughts”, “I have too much nervous energy”.
I get it. So do I.
But that’s WHY we make a decision to struggle with this practice, and ultimately bring it into us.
Into our soul, our life, and our home.
I mean, what would you rather have:
> Chaos.
Or:
> Calm.
And what if it was okay to want both?
What if the chaos was reigned in by the calm?
A fire has both.
A child’s birth has both.
A woman’s beauty has both.
Why can’t we?
Why can’t we have it all, but be grateful for every little moment.
Every little smile, hug, or gesture from a loved one.
After all, “Life is short, but Art is Long” (Hippocrates).
Overall, this book is a powerful reminder to beautify and calm your life… to father your struggles unlike you were fathered.
Whatever pain you have: bring it to the surface, and let the Stillness of the moment carry it away like clouds on a calm day…
It’s there once, then you look up — and it’s gone.
PS - “We shall not flag or fail” — if you get that email me dain@hey.com, have a surprise for ya.
Action begets action.
Brick begets brick — literally.
In 1940, when most political statesmen were in the halls of power in Westminster, or in the war rooms of London… One of the most powerful men in the world, who was possibly the most crucial to the victory over Germany, was laying bricks for a house on his property in the English countryside.
Winston Churchill reminds us yet again: those that make a contribution to our world, seem to have a contradictory nature — they have little time but make time for nothing.
Churchill wrote some 10 million words, but he also painted, gardened, kept animals, and yes - laid brick.
Calm was a kind of primacy.
The kind that could generate a life-changing thought.
A walk. A moment.
A surreal feeling capable of generating a logical change.
Recovery in the repition…
Nietzsche used to say, “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking”
Aristotle walked. Thoreau walked. Kant walked.
Dickens, Wolf, Wordsworth, Beethoven, Rousseau, Gandhi, Roosevelt, and Lincoln all walked.
Cal Newport walks. Ryan Holiday walks. Jason Fried walks. Dan Koe walks.
Almost every single person that I’ve studied has a serious (non trivial) walking habit. That is: they walk or are in a form of “stillness of the soul” for HOURS per day.
Why aren’t you?
I get it. I’ve been running from something too.
I often despise stillness and quiet.
Holiday mentions how it reminds us of Death, and he’s pretty spot on.
I hate thinking of Death.
My dad hasn’t died, nor has my mom, nor my wife’s parents.
…And I really dread the day those things happen.
And I think of those when there’s nothing left to think about…
But, that shouldn’t keep us from embracing Stillness.
If anything, it should encourage us.
We need a relationship with Death: as Seneca and Marcus Aurelius said.
We need to form a dance with Death: as Carlos Castaneda said.
We need to love Death: as nobody could say but should.
That would be the ideal scenario: to love what gives us back as much as what brought us here.
And if able to avoid the thought of Death, one may still say, “stillness is too challenging”, “I have too many thoughts”, “I have too much nervous energy”.
I get it. So do I.
But that’s WHY we make a decision to struggle with this practice, and ultimately bring it into us.
Into our soul, our life, and our home.
I mean, what would you rather have:
> Chaos.
Or:
> Calm.
And what if it was okay to want both?
What if the chaos was reigned in by the calm?
A fire has both.
A child’s birth has both.
A woman’s beauty has both.
Why can’t we?
Why can’t we have it all, but be grateful for every little moment.
Every little smile, hug, or gesture from a loved one.
After all, “Life is short, but Art is Long” (Hippocrates).
Overall, this book is a powerful reminder to beautify and calm your life… to father your struggles unlike you were fathered.
Whatever pain you have: bring it to the surface, and let the Stillness of the moment carry it away like clouds on a calm day…
It’s there once, then you look up — and it’s gone.
PS - “We shall not flag or fail” — if you get that email me dain@hey.com, have a surprise for ya.