Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holiday
author: Ryan-Holiday
Non-fiction book by Ryan Holiday that takes the idea of stillness from many different religions and applies it to the modern day, using historical figures to expand on the ideas.
Holiday praises the idea of stillness of mind, drawing a lot from stoic philosophy. It’s similar in this respect to Four-Thousand-Weeks-by-Oliver-Burkeman-2021.
Key Ideas
- Slow-Down and embrace-silence
- Be-Present - (Being-Present-Reveals-More-Detail)
- define-what-is-enough-for-you
- happiness-does-not-lie-in-external-validation
- peace-comes-from-within
On journaling:
- journaling-allows-you-to-be-present
- journaling-helps-you-examine-your-emotions
- Writing-is-a-way-of-externalising-our-thoughts
Good habits:
- go-outside
- practice-mitfreude
- Practise-Doing-Nothing
- you-should-have-a-hobby
- Walking-is-helpful-for-your-mental-health
- walking-can-be-meditation
- Reduce-distractions
- step-away-from-noise-to-recharge
- use-time-as-a-tool
- do-less-to-do-more
- reflect-on-your-life-regularly
- reflect-when-calm
Criticism
It’s worth remembering Self-Help-Ignores-Systemic-Solutions. Holiday ignores a lot of the systems the historical figures find themselves in.
self-help-ignores-privilege. Most of the people Holiday talks about are white, male and wealthy which gives them more control over their attempts to find stillness.
Mostly Holiday does a good job of exploring the complexities and contradictions of people but with Winston Churchill he ignores his many crimes, which feels like an omission.