Resolve to Be Still

I’ve heard that Seneca used to seek out noisy places to write so that he could practice inner stillness regardless of external circumstances. In his book The Art of Learning, Josh Waitzkin, describes an extraordinary moment in which he found this sort of tranquility. In the middle of a chess match at the World Junior Chess Tournament, an earthquake occurred. Instead of losing concentration during the chaos, Waitzkin experienced the slowing down of time and profound clarity about what his next moves should be.

I just saw one other fascinating example of the power of stillness in a short video about how to calm an out of control child. The lecturer suggests that rather than using words, we do the hard work of becoming deeply peaceful ourselves and of opening our hearts before we engage with the child. She shares how she sat down next to a student throwing a wild tantrum with this sort of energy and simply waited. After a while, the child calmed down. I’ve been trying this method with my two-year-old and so far, it appears to be working better than telling him what to do when he’s upset. Perhaps stillness is contagious. 

When I start to feel emotionally tumultuous, I can choose to be at peace. When I’m getting impatient with my children, I can choose to spiral into anger or to be calm. When I’m feeling overwhelmed by my commitments, I can fan the flames of anxiety or I can choose to serenely work through them. It’s as if I’m in a hurricane and I have two options: allow myself to be pulled further out into the frenzied edge or resolve to remain in the eye of the storm. 

This week, I invite you to ask: 

When external circumstances are challenging, what is my interior like? What would change if I were more still? In what particular circumstance will I practice inner stillness next? 

God bless,
Dan