In his book Stillness is the Key, Ryan Holiday writes that: “The call to stillness comes quietly. The modern world does not.” We’ve got so many things vying for our attention on a daily basis. The stress of work, family responsibilities, financial worries, seeing everything that’s wrong with the world on the news, social media. But who has the power to stop? Or time to think? The irony is that we use that feeling of overwhelm as an excuse to not make time for stillness, yet our daily struggles become much easier to deal with when we act from a place of stillness instead of stress. And I think that, intuitively, we know that. Truly great people share this key quality, which is the ability to be still, even while the world rages around them. We just have to be proactive and make time for it. Stillness is not the same as idleness or nothingness. It’s about slowing down time, appreciating the little things, thinking about what truly matters, and being in a state of calm. Stillness is that time when you had a brilliant idea come up out of nowhere or that time when you wrote this thoughtful article almost without effort. It’s watching the sunset without wanting to take out your phone to share it online. I’ve found that I’m the happiest when I feel calm and peaceful inside. It’s why I’m interested in living with intention: slow living, minimalism, things of that nature. And actually, happy doesn’t even seem like the right word, content is more accurate. The state of mind where I feel grounded, balanced, no matter what life throws at me. That does more for my well-being than anything external. Over the years, there have been a few practices that I keep going back to whenever I notice I’ve gone too far into the red. These habits help me to slow down, recenter, and regain this feeling of stillness. Maybe some of them might be helpful to you, too. Resources mentioned in the video: • Stillness is the Key - Ryan Holiday: https://a.co/d/8tLaRJa • Lead Yourself First - Raymond Kethledge & Michael Erwin: https://a.co/d/j1GNXiT • Digital Minimalism - Cal Newport: https://a.co/d/1quENHe • Life on Purpose - Victor J. Strecher: https://a.co/d/63xne5p • Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious & Spiritual Leaders By Acharya S. N. Goenka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P97criit1qI • Last Chance U Basketball: https://www.netflix.com/title/81046613 • Technology Shabbats: https://www.tiffanyshlain.com/tech-shabbat CHAPTERS: 00:00 Intro 00:16 My Journey to Finding Stillness 04:59 Cultivate Solitude 08:02 Limit screen time 09:57 Do Something Meaningful – WHAT TO WATCH NEXT – 3 Simple Habits That Calm Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6owgFm8h1cs – LINKS – ☕️ Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/petercook ♪ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@slowlivingminimalist 🖼 Posters: https://iampetercook.gumroad.com/l/posterpack 💻 Try Skillshare for free for 1 month: https://www.skillshare.com/en/r/user/petercook?gr_tch_ref=on 📚 Interesting books to read: • Stoicism For Beginners: https://a.co/d/hPU8GTX • Minimalism 101: https://a.co/d/bJkA6Lt • Declutter Your Life: https://a.co/d/carqttB DISCLAIMER: Some of the links are affiliate links. If you click and make a purchase, I may earn a commission, at no cost to you.