The Art of Stillness – Safal Niveshak

I have started this new weekly newsletter – The Almanack of Good Life – to share all that I am reading and reflecting upon about living a good life. It’s a new attempt, but I hope to take this far. In this age of constant information overload, I’ve found immense value in taking time to pause and reflect upon meaningful insights about life. This newsletter is my way of sharing that journey with you.

Each week, I’ll curate a selection of thought-provoking ideas, inspiring quotes, and practical wisdom I’ve encountered in my readings and personal reflections. My goal is to create a space for us to explore together what it means to live with purpose, kindness, and fulfilment. I look forward to your kind support.

What I’m Reading

Don’t just do something. Sit there.

It’s 5 AM as I write this, absolutely quiet all around, and I am reading Pico Iyer on the art of stillness in his beautiful book of the same name. Pico writes –

In an age of speed, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.

You can go on vacation … and you’ll have a tremendous time, I’m sure. But if you want to come back feeling new — alive and full of fresh hope and in love with the world — I think the place to visit may be Nowhere.

…It’s only by taking myself away from clutter and distraction that I can begin to hear something out of earshot and recall that listening is much more invigorating than giving voice to all the thoughts and prejudices that anyway keep me company twenty-four hours a day.

And it’s only by going nowhere—by sitting still or letting my mind relax—that I find that the thoughts that come to me unbidden are far fresher and more imaginative than the ones I consciously seek out.

Pico’s words hit home, don’t they?

We live in a constantly plugged-in existence, and amidst chasing the next notification or rushing to the next meeting, the idea of just… stopping… feels almost revolutionary.

But think about it – when was the last time you just sat and let your mind wander? No phone, no TV, no distractions. Just you and your thoughts.

I know it’s scary at first. After all, our brains are so used to constant input that silence can feel deafening.

But the thing is that it is in that quiet that we can process our experiences, come up with our best ideas, and reconnect with what really matters to us. It’s like clearing out all the junk that’s accumulated in our mental attics. And it’s not just about being more productive or creative. It’s about rediscovering a sense of awe.

When we’re always rushing, we miss the little miracles around us – the way sunlight passes through the curtains, the smell of rain on the footpath, a child’s laughter, the simple joy of a deep breath. Ah!

But like Pico writes, maybe the key to wandering through our chaotic world is not to move faster or do more, but to slow down, to carve out moments of stillness, and to remember how to just be.

Yes, just be. Difficult. But invigorating.

Try it.

By the way, do listen to Pico’s TED talk on the art of stillness, and his interview with William Green.

Also, read The Art of Stillness.

***

You are wealthy. But are you healthy?

Cornelius Vanderbilt, who was then the world’s richest man, died on January 4, 1887. His fortune, largely built from his railroad enterprises, totalled $105 million by the end of his life.

When Vanderbilt passed away, he bequeathed $95 million to his eldest son, William, an amount that supposedly surpassed the entire holdings of the U.S. Treasury at that time. And if that was not big enough, William doubled this inheritance to nearly $200 million within a decade.

However, despite his vast wealth, William found no solace in money. According to Fortune’s Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt, he once spoke to his friend about his neighbour –

He isn’t worth a hundredth part as much as I am, but he has more of the real pleasures of life than I have. His house is as comfortable as mine, even if it didn’t cost so much; his team is about as good as mine; his opera box is next to mine; his health is better than mine, and he will probably outlive me. And he can trust his friends.”

William also believed that his health had been broken by the burden of managing his father’s empire. He told his doctors –

I feel pretty well, but I can’t depend upon myself.

Then, he told his nephew –

What’s the use, Sam, of having all this money if you cannot enjoy it? My wealth is no comfort to me if I have not good health behind it.

All the money in the world doesn’t matter if you don’t have the time or the health to enjoy it. Think about it.

***

How to get over your anxieties and regrets

Eckhart Tolle has the answer in his brilliant book The Power of Now –

***

A measure of real success in life

In his book Education of a Value Investor, Guy Spier quotes Warren Buffett as saying this to college students…

When you get to my age, you’ll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually love you. I know people who have a lot of money, and they get testimonial dinners and they get hospital wings named after them. But the truth is that nobody in the world loves them. If you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, I don’t care how big your bank account is, your life is a disaster. That’s the ultimate test of how you have lived your life.

He continues –

The trouble with love is that you can’t buy it. You can buy sex. You can buy testimonial dinners. You can buy pamphlets that say how wonderful you are. But the only way to get love is to be lovable. It’s very irritating if you have a lot of money. You’d like to think you could write a check: I’ll buy a million dollars’ worth of love. But it doesn’t work that way. The more you give love away, the more you get.” Of all the lessons that Warren has taught me, perhaps this is the most important.

The Sketchbook of Wisdom: A Hand-Crafted Manual on the Pursuit of Wealth and Good Life.

Special Discount until 15th August 2024!

This is a masterpiece.

– Morgan Housel, Author, The Psychology of Money

What I’m Thinking

Our actions ripple outward, affecting countless lives in ways we may never fully grasp. By striving to be kind and compassionate in our daily interactions, we can create positive change that extends far beyond ourselves.

***

True wealth lies not in material possessions, but in rich experiences, deep relationships, and personal growth. Investing time and energy into these areas often yields the deepest and most lasting satisfaction.

***

When you embrace discomfort and challenges, you expand your capabilities and understanding. When you push beyond your comfort zone, you often discover untapped potential and new perspectives that can enrich your life.

Book Recommendation

Man’s Search for Meaning is one of the most life-changing books I have ever read. The book is a chronicle by Viktor Frankl of his experiences as a German Nazi concentration camp inmate during World War II. In this book, Frankl describes his psychotherapeutic method, which involved identifying a purpose in life to feel positively about, and then immersively imagining that outcome.

The central theme of Frankl’s book is ‘survival.’ Although he witnessed and experienced horror, the book focuses less on the details of his own experience and more on how his time under Nazi rule showed him the human ability to survive and endure against all odds.

As Frankl wrote, he saw the lowest parts of humanity while in the camps. He saw fellow prisoners promoted to be in-camp guards turning on their fellow prisoners. He watched as they beat their lifeless, malnourished campmates. He watched sadistic guards treating them as if they were lower than animals. But he also saw individuals rising up like saints above it all.

The part that impacted me the most from the book was this –

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way.

I highly recommend Man’s Search for Meaning.

Quotes I am Reflecting On

Wisdom is knowing I am nothing, Love is knowing I am everything, and between the two my life moves.

– Nisargadatta Maharaj

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Just as all the water will flow out of a barrel if there’s so much as one little hole in it, so all the joy of love will drain out of your soul if in your soul there is enmity toward so much as a single person.

– Leo Tostoy

That’s all from me for today.

Let me know your thoughts on this issue of The Almanack of Good Life newsletter, and ways I can improve it. Also, if you have ideas or resources you think I can share in future letters, please email them to me at vishal[at]safalniveshak[dot]com.

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Thank you for your time and attention.

~ Vishal