Stillness Is The Key
Rating 5/5
Ryan Holiday’s Stillness is the Key is one of my favourite books from 2019.
I believe that everyone can get something of value from reading Stillness and that you owe it to yourself to buy and keep on your bookshelf and turn back to regularly.
This is considered the third in a trilogy of books on Stoic philosophy that Ryan has written and while Obstacle and Ego are books that I highly recommend to people in certain instances, Stillness has something for everyone.
It’s also extremely practical.
Each chapter includes advice to apply the practices talked about which is something that wasn’t emphasized as much in OITW and EITE.
We live in a busy and chaotic world. Everyone is gasping for air as our attention is pulled in countless different directions and the key to it all is to find stillness in whatever way works best for you.
This book shares why stillness is so importantly (and has literally saved the world from meltdown) and how you can get more stillness in your life to become better at everything you do.
The Bullet Journal Method
I stumbled upon Bullet Journaling not too long ago which happened to be just in time for the Bullet Journal Method book to be released. Ryder Carrol, the creator of Bullet Journaling (fondly known as BuJo), is one of those thirty-something-year-olds who embodies the sage wisdom of an elder who has already lived a full life. I was captivated by the way he relates his journaling method to be more mindful and intentional with the tasks you do and your daily schedule. He explains it in a way that is a beautiful mix of zen and stoic, operating your notebook like an objective observer.
The Bullet Journal Method is a complete guide to how to put together your own Bullet Journal as well as a dive into the philosophy and science that ties journaling to practices of mindfulness. It is a very nice and fun to read book as it pulls in pages from actual Bullet Journals to showcase different components and examples which makes it feel like a field guide or perhaps like you are reading someone’s private journal. I liked it a lot. It was a fun read with a lot of good productivity advice as well as a very interesting take on mindfulness.
I’ve written previously about my thoughts on how the perfect productivity tool does not exist in an app and so when my timely discovery of BuJo came about I figured I would dive into the world of BuJo and see how it could benefit my organization. Bullet Journaling has been a simple, yet elegant solution to getting thoughts out of my head and onto paper as well as organizing my tasks. While many people seem to think that BuJo is life-changing or revolutionary, I’m fairly confident that anyone who has ever written things down before and kept a journal of their actions will find many similarities between the way they previously did things and Bullet Journaling but putting it altogether as a complete system does provide a lot more benefit to staying organized and intentional with your work.
Living With The Monks
Living With The Monks - Jesse Itzler
After spending a month living and training with a SEAL known as Goggins, Jesse Itzler decided to follow up on his journey of learning through experience with experts by living with Monks at a monastery in upstate New York. In this book Jesse shares in the wisdom he gained in his 15-day experience of peace and contemplation.
While I didn't like this book as much as SEAL, it was a refreshing taste of leading by example rather than just another flowery book about mindfulness or finding peace within yourself.
There are more than enough nuggets of wisdom scattered throughout this book to make it worthwhile to read, or in my case listen to, and was an entertaining story from start to finish.
Life value 4/5
Entertainment value 4/5
Stealing Fire
Stealing Fire- Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal
Stealing Fire is a look at the state of Ecstasis and gets its name from an allusion to Prometheus - the titan who stole fire from the Olympian gods and gave it to humans, thus sparking the progress of civilization.
Ecstasis is the act of “stepping beyond oneself” and refers to experiences of the subconscious mind taking over our everyday consciousness. Ecstasis was traditionally achieved through long-term contemplative practices and also a rich history of animals consuming psychoactive plants. It is hypothesized that the consumption of these plants and fungi has been involved in the progress of human evolution and been critical to our development of cognition.
Stealing Fire breaks down the ecstatic state into the four components of the STER experience - selflessness, timeless, effortlessness, and richness and explores its relationship to the flow state and the neurobiology behind it. The book then explores the different methods of achieving ecstatic states including new technologies that are breaking through the mystery and the taboos of exploring altered states.
This is an extremely interesting read and has a lot of value to some of the changes in legislature being made in North America currently. While many people will be exploring Michael Pollan’s newest book on this subject, “How To Change Your Mind,” I think that Stealing Fire published a few years ago, is an interesting parallel to explore on the subject of altered states.
Life Value: 4/5
Entertainment Value 5/5
Radical Acceptance
Radical Acceptance packs a really powerful punch for those who find it at the right time in their lives.
The subtitle for RA is "Embracing your life with the heart of a Buddha."
This is a book on mindfulness, meditation, and spirituality for those who are into that sort of thing. Like I mentioned I think for anyone who is struggling to find happiness or seems to be bogged down by troubles and sees no escape, Radical Acceptance as a book and as a philosophy can be extremely helpful.
Each chapter in the book addresses a different area in your life that you may be struggling to accept and provides guidance on how to deal with it. Tara is a psychotherapist in addition to being a teacher of Buddhist meditation and so the book is full of stories of Radical Acceptance being applied in tough situations, which might seem like radically anecdotal evidence (pardon the pun), but can be very helpful considering that the whole point is you've got to accept things and let go. There are also plenty of guided meditations included to help you deal with particular situations, which may make this an even better book in audio format.
I find a very close connection between the thesis of Radical Acceptance with the Latin amor fati - "a love of fate" which was embodied in Stoic philosophy.
If you're not quite ready to dive headfirst into something quite so mystical sounding, 10% Happier is a great place to start exploring mindfulness and meditation. Dan Harris actually comically makes mention of Tara Brach in the book several times as he encounters her at mindfulness seminars and warms up to her ultra-serene personality as he spends more time around her.
10% Happier
10% Happier is a book on mindfulness and meditation for people who are sceptical and don't believe in the "woo-woo" positivity that most books on meditation are replete with.
The book explores Harris' discovery of meditation following his on-screen panic attack as a newscaster live on ABC News. Harris knew that his "always on" mentality has led him to the breaking point.
If you don't think that there is anything miraculous about meditation, but think that it could help you be a little more at ease and grounded as the day-to-day stresses come flying at you, then this is a great book to help start you on your journey.
Siddhartha
“Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goals, if he is able to think, if he is able to wait, if he is able to fast.”
Siddhartha is the story of a man's spiritual journey during the time that the Gautama Buddha lived.
Siddhartha grew up idolizing the aesthetics and joined the quest to discover Nirvana. The downfall in this for him was the disdain he felt for the "childlike" people who sought materialism and carnal pleasures.
To better understand this other type of life, Siddhartha leaves his simple life to learn from people following different paths through life in the city. He faces the trials and tribulations that his life had been sheltered from ever experiencing before and ultimately realizes that he had to go through it all to be able to truly let go of it and not look down on people not following his path with condescension.
The lesson of Siddhartha is that every person has their own path to follow and that you should be present to the moment and your surroundings and experiences.