The promise of Ryan HolidayвЂ™s book is the location of that key.

It is the key that unlocks genius, happiness, meaning. It is by stillness that the ball slows down so that we might hit it. It is with stillness that perspective sharpens. History proves that it is from stillness that new insights and ideas spawn. How does anyone find time to think? To do meaningful work? To detach and relax? WeвЂ™re completely overstimulated, overscheduled, and overwhelmed. The news with its narrative of crisis after crisis finds us on whichever device we happen to be staring at. Today, we can add to that car horns, cell phone alarms and notifications, stereos or headphones, jackhammers, espresso machines, airplanes. In SenecaвЂ™s time, to reach stillness meant contending with the cacophony of disturbances that filled the streets of Rome: carriages rumbling through the stone streets, carpenters at work, vendors shouting their offerings, children at play, dogs barking. вЂњAnd when basically all the wisdom of the ancient world agrees on something,вЂќ Holiday writes, вЂњonly a fool would decline to listen.вЂќ 3 Key Takeaway Lessons from Stillness is the Key : Holiday looks at Buddhism, Stoicism, Epicureanism, Christianity, Hinduism, and countless other philosophical schools and religions and shows that itвЂ™s all but impossible to find one that doesnвЂ™t venerate this inner peace-this stillness -as the highest good and as the key to a thriving, meaningful life. In Stillness is the Key, the book that completes the trilogy that began with The Obstacle is The Way and Ego is the Enemy, Ryan Holiday argues that stillness is the key to being better at anything you do. вЂњYou may be sure that you are at peace with yourself,вЂќ Seneca wrote, вЂњwhen 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 din.вЂќ They could still think well, work well, and be well. To the ancient Stoics, if one could develop this stillness, this peace within themselves-if they could achieve apatheia, as they called it-the world could be at war and in complete chaos, but they could maintain their tranquility. ItвЂ™s one of the most powerful forces on earth. ItвЂ™s what makes room for gratitude and happiness. ItвЂ™s that ability to step back and reflect.

Stillness is that quiet moment when inspiration hits you. To possess quietude-exterior and interior-on command. To be steady while the world spins around you. The second book of the Bhagavad Gita, the epic poem of the warrior Arjuna, speaks of samatvam, an вЂњevenness of mind-a peace that is ever the same.вЂќ The Greeks, euthymia and hesychia. вЂњAll of humanityвЂ™s problems stem from manвЂ™s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.вЂќ

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