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    “Stillness is what aims the archer’s arrow.  It inspires new ideas.  It sharpens perspective and illuminates connections.  It slows the ball down so that we might hit it.  It generates a vision, helps us resist the passions of the mob, makes space for gratitude and wonder.  Stillness allows us to persevere.  To succeed.  It is the key that unlocks the insights of genius, and allows us regular folks to understand them.” ~ Ryan Holiday, via Stillness is the Key (Page 2)

      “You may be sure that you are at peace with yourself, when no noise reaches you, when no word shakes you out of yourself, whether it be flattery or a threat, or merely an empty sound buzzing about you with unmeaning sin.” ~ Seneca, via Stillness is the Key (Page XV)

      James Clear Quote on Happiness and How It’s About Absence Not Achievement

        “Happiness is simply the absence of desire.  When you observe a cue, but do not desire to change your state, you are content with the current situation.  Happiness is not about the achievement of pleasure (which is joy or satisfaction), but about the lack of desire.  It arrives when you have no urge to feel differently.  Happiness is the state you enter when you no longer want to change your state.”

        James Clear, Atomic Habits

        Beyond the Quote (94/365)

        People think becoming invincible is impossible—I’d like to argue to the contrary.  How do we become invincible?  By freeing ourselves of desire.  As soon as a want is created a vulnerability is exposed that can be leveraged—by others or even your own mind.  Think about this in the context of a negotiation.

        Read More »James Clear Quote on Happiness and How It’s About Absence Not Achievement

        Stillness Is The Key [Book]

          Stillness Is The Key by Ryan Holiday

          By: Ryan Holiday

          From this Book:  66 Quotes

          Book Overview:  All great leaders, thinkers, artists, athletes, and visionaries share one indelible quality. It enables them to conquer their tempers. To avoid distraction and discover great insights. To achieve happiness and do the right thing. Ryan Holiday calls it stillness–to be steady while the world spins around you.  In this book, he outlines a path for achieving this ancient, but urgently necessary way of living. Drawing on a wide range of history’s greatest thinkers, from Confucius to Seneca, Marcus Aurelius to Thich Nhat Hanh, John Stuart Mill to Nietzsche, he argues that stillness is not mere inactivity, but the doorway to self-mastery, discipline, and focus.  More than ever, people are overwhelmed. They face obstacles and egos and competition. Stillness Is the Key offers a simple but inspiring antidote to the stress of 24/7 news and social media. The stillness that we all seek is the path to meaning, contentment, and excellence in a world that needs more of it than ever.

          Buy from Amazon! Listen on Audible!

          Not enough time to read/listen to the whole book? Check out the 18 minute Blinkist version of Stillness Is The Key and get the key insights here for free.

          Post(s) Inspired by this Book:

          Osho Quote on Sadness and How To Relax Into It, Change Its Form, and Look Deeper Into It

            “Whenever you feel sad, sit by the side of a tree, by the side of the river, by the side of a rock, and just relax into your sadness without any fear.  The more you relax, the more you will become acquainted with the beauties of sadness.  Then sadness will start changing its form; it will become a silent joy, uncaused by anybody outside you.  That will not be shallow happiness, which can be taken away very easily.  And getting deeper into your aloneness, one day you will find not only joy – joy is only midway.  Happiness is very superficial, depends on others; joy is in the middles, does not depend on anyone.  But going deeper you will come to the state of bliss – that’s what I call enlightenment.”

            Osho, Love, Freedom, Alonenss: The Koan of Relationships

            Beyond the Quote (93/365)

            Whenever you are feeling a deep emotion—sit with it.  Do not rush to do anything else.  Do not turn on the TV; do not turn on a podcast; do not log into your social media accounts; do not pour a glass of wine; do not conduct busywork; do not go shopping; do not experiment with drugs; do not call your ex.  Just, sit with it.

            Read More »Osho Quote on Sadness and How To Relax Into It, Change Its Form, and Look Deeper Into It

              “…having an enviable career is one thing, and being a happy person is another. Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it’s to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential-as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth. You’ll be told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and never be satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you’re doing. There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you’ll hear about them. To invent your own life’s meaning is not easy, but it’s still allowed, and I think you’ll be happier for the trouble.” ~ Bill Watterson, Speech

                “Before you ask for readers, write the article you wish you could read.  Before you ask for the sale, create the product you wish you had.  Before you need support, be the supportive friend. Before you need love, be the loving partner.  Always give value before you ask for value.” ~ James Clear, Blog

                  “A life lived thoroughly justifies its own limitations.” ~ Jordan Peterson, 12 Rules for Life (Page 365)

                    “Perhaps our environmental problems are not best construed technically.  Maybe they’re best considered psychologically.  The more people sort themselves out, the more responsibility they will take for the world around them and the more problems they will solve.  It is better, proverbially, to rule your own spirit than to rule a city.  It’s easier to subdue an enemy without than one within.  Maybe the environmental problem is ultimately spiritual.  If we put ourselves in order, perhaps we will do the same for the world.  Of course, what else would a psychologist think?” ~ Jordan Peterson, 12 Rules for Life (Page 364)

                      “There is no enlightened one.  There is only the one who is seeking further enlightenment.  Proper Being is process, not a state; a journey, not a destination.  It’s the continual transformation of what you know, through encounter with what you don’t know, rather than the desperate clinging to the certainty that is eternally insufficient in any case.  Always place your becoming above your current being.  That means it is necessary to recognize and accept your insufficiency, so that it can be continually rectified.  That’s painful, certainly—but, it’s a good deal.” ~ Jordan Peterson, 12 Rules for Life (Page 362)

                      Lynne Twist Quote on Feelings of Lack and Inadequacy (and How To Combat It)

                        “For me, and for many of us, our first waking thought of the day is ‘I didn’t get enough sleep.’ The next one is ‘I don’t have enough time.’ Whether true or not, that thought of not enough occurs to us automatically before we even think to question or examine it. We spend most of the hours and the days of our lives hearing, explaining, complaining, or worrying about what we don’t have enough of… We don’t have enough exercise.  We don’t have enough work.  We don’t have enough profits.  We don’t have enough power.  We don’t have enough wilderness.  We don’t have enough weekends.  Of course, we don’t have enough money—ever.  We’re not thin enough, we’re not smart enough, we’re not pretty enough or fit enough or educated or successful enough, or rich enough—ever.  Before we even sit up in bed, before our feet touch the floor, we’re already inadequate, already behind, already losing, already lacking something.  And by the time we go to bed at night, our minds race with a litany of what we didn’t get, or didn’t get done, that day.  We go to sleep burdened by those thoughts and wake up to the reverie of lack… What begins as a simple expression of the hurried life, or even the challenged life, grows into the great justification for an unfulfilled life.”

                        Lynne Twist, The Soul of Money

                        Beyond the Quote (92/365)

                        How do we combat chronic feelings of lack?  By deploying chronic gratitude.  It’s no secret that gratitude is a cornerstone piece of a fulfilled life.  Gratitude is, in fact, what fills a person’s life.  When we are grateful for our family, our family fills our lives; when we are grateful for our friends, our friends fill our lives; when we are thankful for food, water, shelter, clothes, health, etc., then those things fill our lives, too.  Gratitude fills us up and the more gratitude we can deploy, the more fulfilled we will feel.

                        Read More »Lynne Twist Quote on Feelings of Lack and Inadequacy (and How To Combat It)

                        Jonathan Carroll Quote on Kindness in Small Gestures

                          “I firmly believe in small gestures: pay for their coffee, hold the door for strangers, over tip, smile or try to be kind even when you don’t feel like it, pay compliments, chase the kid’s runaway ball down the sidewalk and throw it back to him, try to be larger than you are— particularly when it’s difficult. People do notice, people appreciate. I appreciate it when it’s done to (for) me. Small gestures can be an effort, or actually go against our grain (“I’m not a big one for paying compliments…”), but the irony is that almost every time you make them, you feel better about yourself. For a moment life suddenly feels lighter, a bit more Gene Kelly dancing in the rain.”

                          Jonathan Carroll

                          Beyond the Quote (90/365)

                          Don’t let ideas of the grandiose stop you from acting in thoughtful, kind ways today.  Don’t let your desire to change the whole world (or have a huge impact) stop you from doing anything at all for those who are already in your world.  Brainstorming and coming up with master plans is great, but it should never be at the expense of those who surround you throughout your brainstorming process.  Never underestimate the power of small gestures done in selfless, loving ways, for those gestures may prove to be the very foundation for so much else in your life.

                          Read More »Jonathan Carroll Quote on Kindness in Small Gestures