About Stillness

“Space and silence are two aspects of the same thing.
The same no-thing.
They are externalization of inner space and inner silence,
which is stillness: the infinitely creative womb of all existence.”
| Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

Recently, I have myself immersed in and with stillness. Amongst many traditional readings from Buddhism and Taoism, I came also across some more modern readings, for example Ryan Holiday’s “Stillness is the Key: An Ancient Strategy for Modern Life” and the wonderful project “Discover Still” by photographer Paul Sanders. I have discovered that many individuals around me, especially in 2020, seem to be driven by something. Many photographers for example seem to be caught by the idea to get more followers, win awards or by the need to find their own style (see my blog articles about “Creating a Personal Style or Finding Identity” and “Learning from Your Limitations“). Thus, I decided to write a quick blog article on some ideas how you can find stillness.

What is Stillness?

One could for sure, easily fill this section with a plethora of philosophical ideas about stillness. For me, stillness is what is left when you erase all the noise.

Cultivating Stillness

We live in times of constant information overload. When we are in stillness, we can however hear our inner voice again. As such, we may want to decrease the noise coming at us. Here are a few ideas to do that:

  • Now is now. There are no worries, no anticipations, nothing else than the current moment.
  • Ask yourself. In every moment, is it necessary?
  • Filter the essential. Too often we spend time on the unnecessary, missing time for the self. What’s urgent, and what is important?
  • Limit your inputs. Often, you don’t need more tutorials on a topic, more books on an idea, or more advice from outsiders. You just need time and presence to listen to yourself.
  • Garbage in, garbage out. Limiting inputs, also means a more careful selection of your inputs. The higher the quality of what we consume, the higher it might affect our own quality of work.
  • Delay emails. The important will come back.
  • No more notifications. When we are mindful, we don’t need all alerts, no ringing alarm clocks, no reminders that we got messages. We know. And when it’s time, we’ll have a look. Switch them off.
  • No more poisoning. Stop consume what poisons you. No poisoning food, no poisoning information, no poisoning people.
  • Cultivate stillness. Save time and create space. Breath.
  • Artists are present. This is what we can deliver to the world.

If you have more own ideas about how to cultivate stillness, please, drop me an email. In the case, you want to read more, Eckhart Tolle’s book “The Power of Now” is a classic.

 

References:

Holiday, Ryan (2019): Stillness is the Key, Portfolio.

Sanders, Paul: Discover Still, https://www.discoverstill.com/, 14082020.

Tolle, Eckhart (1997):, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, Namaste Publishing, Vancouver BC, Canada.