Tag: TED talk

The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere by Pico Iyer

The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere by Pico Iyer
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Pico Iyer approaches stillness from a Buddhist perspective in “The Art of Stillness.”

“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.” pg 62.

It’s not a world that most people are accustomed to experiencing, a space of being rather than an active doing. But, as Iyer so succinctly illustrates, it’s a realm that our fast-paced and technology addicted world desperately needs.

To venture into this emptiness is a restful and required experience for the health of the mind as much as inspired action is necessary for the experience of a fulfilling life.

I think that our culture has forgotten the power of stillness and the beauty of balancing our male and female energies. This book is an excellent reminder to appreciate both.

For those folks out there who haven’t heard Pico Iyer’s TED talk on this topic, I would recommend that you watch it first, then read this.

I read this and then I listened to the talk. Almost all 18 minutes of it were taken verbatim from The Art of Stillness. So, you’ll enjoy it more, I believe, if you do the opposite of what I did.

My big takeaway from this was the idea of air travel as “a retreat in the sky” pg 56. I dislike flying to the point where I tend to reach my destination exhausted and ready to return home the moment I land.

I think if I could successfully adopt the process that Iyer describes of treating the flight as a “meditative retreat” that I could change my experience of air travel from a nightmare into a restful pause.

There are many large ideas like that contained within this small book.

For the right person at the right time, The Art of Stillness could change her life. As Iyer says, The Art of Stillness doesn’t contain any “new” ideas but they are powerful and much needed ones.

Readers who are short on time, but big on stress may really love this book.

I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads. FTC guidelines: check!

Thanks for reading!

The Art of Asking; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help by Amanda Palmer

The Art of Asking; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help by Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer is an extremely talented artist who has done it all- from performing in a punk rock band to posing as a statue on the streets.

I can see why readers are passionate about this book and the author. She just didn’t strike a spark for me.

Photo by Jeffrey Czum on Pexels.com

Memoirs can drag on and become self-indulgent and ridiculous. I feel like that was a problem with The Art of Asking.

The tipping point for me was when she formed The Dresden Dolls with her friend and said (I’m quoting from memory here since I was listening to the audiobook): “I finally had the strongly emoting band I’d always dreamed of” or something like that.

I realized, I was strongly emoting on this book, but not in a good way.

I understand her internal struggles in forming a relationship with Neil Gaiman must have been difficult for her, but her “should I date him, he’s older and richer and more famous than me” just came off as silly and very first-world problems.

I get that she loves her fans, her art, her lifestyle- but it just come together to make a read that I enjoyed.

My apologies to her fans. If it helps, my favorite parts of the audiobook were the songs she put between some of the tracks. Those were actually pretty awesome.

Photo by Inga Seliverstova on Pexels.com

And the over-arching theme of The Art of Asking was good too.

Society isn’t comfortable with asking. We don’t know how to do it, don’t feel comfortable with it and it prevents people from making the art that they were born to make.

You can get that part of this book by watching Palmer’s TED talk. Maybe you should do that instead of reading this.

Here ’tis: 

https://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking

Thanks for reading.