Book Review: Stillness Is The Key

Book Review

Apr 23

As I finish books I’ll be covering them in the blog section here, and Stillness Is The Key was the latest read I just wrapped up. It was written by Ryan Holiday and it offers a deep look into the world of ancient philosophies of how and why your stillness in times of despair can prove to be one of the best decisions you could make. The entire book offers a simple and inspiring take on the stress of our modern lives, 24/7 news, and constant flood of notifications and how it distracts us from seeking the answers we are so desperately looking for.

One of the things I love most about this book is the lessons and situations from the past few decades of sports icons like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and more, and how some of their major moments in history can provide lessons for your life. Simply put, the stillness that we all seek is the path to meaning, contentment, and excellence in a world that needs less, not more.

The most practical parts of the book are definitely the real-life examples from great leaders such as Winston Churchill, JFK, Abraham Lincoln, and more - all of which allow you to derive some of their life’s most imperative lessons into real-world daily examples. If you are seeking to find your zen, and align yourself with inner peace for your mind, body and spirit, then I highly recommend you grab this book on Amazon here.

Overall, this book just gives you the idea to pause, instead of react. And in today’s world (even in quarantine), I think that is one of the most powerful things we can do. Seek pause. Seek clarity. Think before you act. In business, and in life.

I pulled out some of the top quotes from the book from the book, and hopefully it provides you some insight! I can’t recommend this book enough and hopefully you like it. If you’ve read it, drop me a comment and let me know what you think.

Follow the Author, Ryan Holiday here.

Quotes from Stillness Is The Key

Stillness is the key to, well, just about everything.
Remember, there’s no greatness in the future. Or clarity. Or insight. Or happiness. Or peace. There is only this moment.
We are one big collective organism engaged in one endless project together. We are one.
What’s essential is invisible to the eye.
The call to stillness comes quietly. The modern world does not.
We must cultivate mental stillness to succeed in life and to successfully navigate the many crises it throws our way.
We are not present . . . and so we miss out. On life. On being our best. On seeing what’s there.
Being present demands all of us. It’s not nothing. It may be the hardest thing in the world.
Don’t dwell or needlessly complicate. Be here. Be all of you.
This moment we are experiencing right now is a gift (that’s why we call it the present).
Don’t waste a beautiful moment because you are insecure or shy.
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.
We do not live in this moment. We, in fact, try desperately to get out of it—by thinking, doing, talking, worrying, remembering, hoping, whatever. We pay thousands of dollars to have a device in our pocket to ensure that we are never bored. We sign up for endless activities and obligations, chase money and accomplishments, all with the naïve belief that at the end of it will be happiness.
It is in this stillness that we can be present and finally see truth. It is in this stillness that we can hear the voice inside us.
We’d rather make ourselves miserable than make ourselves a priority, than be our best selves.
Whatever you face, whatever you’re doing will require, first and foremost, that you don’t defeat yourself.
Because the mind is an important and sacred place. Keep it clean and clear.
How you journal is much less important than why you are doing it: To get something off your chest. To have quiet time with your thoughts. To clarify those thoughts. To separate the harmful from the insightful.
We can’t be afraid of silence, as it has much to teach us. Seek it. The ticking of the hands of your watch is telling you how time is passing away, never to return. Listen to it.
We want to sit with doubt. We want to savor it. We want to follow it where it leads. Because on the other side is truth.
Don’t feed insecurity. Don’t feed delusions of grandeur. Both are obstacles to stillness. Be confident. You’ve earned it.
Confidence is the freedom to set your own standards and unshackle yourself from the need to prove yourself.
Only through stillness are the vexing problems solved. Only through reducing our aims are the most difficult targets within our reach.
The more at peace we are, the more productive we can be.
History teaches us that peace is what provides the opportunity to build. It is the postwar boom that turns nations into superpowers, and ordinary people into powerhouses.
Our soul is where we secure our happiness and unhappiness, contentment or emptiness—and ultimately, determine the extent of our greatness.
Where virtue is, so too are happiness and beauty.
Only those of us who take the time to explore, to question, to extrapolate the consequences of our desires have an opportunity to overcome them and to stop regrets before they start. Only they know that real pleasure lies in having a soul that’s true and stable, happy and secure.
It’s ironic that stillness is rare and fleeting in our busy lives, because the world creates an inexhaustible supply of it. It’s just that nobody’s looking.
Don’t let the beauty of life escape you. See the world as the temple that it is. Let every experience be church-like. Marvel at the fact that any of this exists—that you exist. Even when we are killing each other in pointless wars, even when we are killing ourselves with pointless work, we can stop and bathe in the beauty that surrounds us, always.
How much more present we would be if we saw what was around us.
We have so little control of the world around us, so many inexplicable events created this world, that it works out almost exactly the same way as if there was a god.
When we know what to say no to, we can say yes to the things that matter.
Remember, that’s what time is. It’s your life, it’s your flesh and blood, that you can never get back.
What do we want more of in life? That’s the question. It’s not accomplishments. It’s not popularity. It’s moments when we feel like we are enough. More presence. More clarity. More insight. More truth. More stillness.
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 ourselves in the process.
How different would the world look if people spent as much time listening to their conscience as they did to chattering broadcasts? If they could respond to the calls of their convictions as quickly as we answer the dings and rings of technology in our pockets?
Take action. Get out from under all your stuff. Get rid of it. Give away what you don’t need.
You were born free—free of stuff, free of burden. But since the first time they measured your tiny body for clothes, people have been foisting stuff upon you. And you’ve been adding to links to the pile of chains yourself ever since.
If you want peace, there is just one thing to do. If you want to be your best, there is just one thing to do. Go to sleep.
Despair and restlessness go together. The problem is that you can’t flee despair. You can’t escape, with your body, problems that exist in your mind and soul. You can’t run away from your choices—you can only fix them with better choices.
You were given one body when you were born—don’t try to be someone else, something else. Get to know yourself. Build a life that you don’t need to escape from.
If we want to be good and feel good, we have to do good…Dive in when you hear the cry for help. Reach out when you see the need. Do kindness where you can. Because you’ll have to find a way to live with yourself if you don’t.
That quiet feels so unnatural is a sign of its importance. Seize it. We can’t be afraid of silence, as it has much to teach us. Seek it.
The ticking of the hands of your watch are telling you how time is passing away, never to return. Listen to it.
Remember, there’s no greatness in the future. Or clarity. Or insight. Or happiness. Or peace. There is only this moment.
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. You have to protect it from yourself, from your own thoughts. Not with sheer force, but rather with a kind of gentle, persistent sweeping. Be the librarian that says “Shhh!” to the rowdy kids, or tells the jerk on his phone to please take it outside. Because the mind is an important and sacred place. Keep it clean and clear.
This is what the best journals look like. They aren’t for the reader. They are for the writer. To slow the mind down. To wage peace with oneself.
Stillness is what aims the archer’s arrow. It inspires new ideas. It sharpens perspective and illuminates connections.