We always find ourselves in situations that require important questions to be answered immediately. Our worlds are already moving at an alarming rate with important and non-important information and finding the right filter to distinguish between the two can be a daunting task.
Our Bosses rush up to us to answer questions that could potentially cost us our jobs. Our significant other asks us something that we aren’t prepared to answer just yet. We commit to obligations haphazardly that we have very limited abilities to honor.
John F. Kennedy was fond of using the aphorism; “Use time as a tool, not as a couch”. An aphorism that allowed him to find stillness and ultimately make the right decisions during the Cuban Missile Crisis- one of the Darkest Chapters in the history of the modern world. If he had rushed into making the wrong decisions there is a strong possibility that I would not be here now writing this and you would not be where you are reading it. No one would. We’d all be dead.
What Kennedy was able to do was “Still the muddied Water” so he could see all of the variables involved in making such a crucial decision. Failing to do so would have quite possibly tied a knot that only a sword of devastating violence and irreversible damage could cut, leaving both sides with ashes in their mouths as Kruschev- Kennedy’s opponent- would later admit.
Allowing the world to rush us seemingly always ends regretfully. Not taking into consideration all of the possible outcomes and failing to see through a plethora of unhelpful information was and has been a problem that has plagued both CEO’s and Janitors alike.
In his new Book Stillness is the Key, Author Ryan holiday insightfully breaks down the Importance of Stillness and resisting the frenzy of the world. There’s a reason why almost every school or religion has advocated for it for centuries. He defines stillness as: ‘To be steady as the world spins around you, to act without frenzy. To hear only what needs to be heard. To possess quietude-exterior and interior-on command’.
You can check out his book https://www.amazon.com/Stillness-Key-Ryan-Holiday/dp/0525538585/ref=sr_1_2?crid=IVFMUAZIAGG8&keywords=stillness+is+the+key&qid=1579198727&sprefix=stillness%2Caps%2C232&sr=8-2 here on Amazon.
No matter what it is that we’re faced with we should always take into consideration the power of slowing things down. Not acting hastily. Seeing the big picture.
The best decisions are made through the application of mindfulness. Stillness.
DO NOT LET THE WORLD RUSH YOU. Everything depends on it.