In an age of constant movement, nothing is so urgent as sitting still. In an age of distraction, nothing is so luxurious as paying attention. In an age of acceleration, nothing can be more exhilarating than going slow. “Something in us is crying out for the sense of intimacy and depth that we get from people who take the time and trouble to sit still,” the renowned travel writer adds. Pico Iyer adds his learnings from Leonard Cohen’s album Old Ideas which he explains was created when Cohen found and/or made the much-needed empty space. And it’s only by stepping back, and then further back, and holding still, that we can begin to see what the canvas means to catch the larger picture and a few people do that for us by going nowhere. Many of us have the sensation that we’re standing about two inches away from a huge screen, it’s noisy, crowded and it’s changing with every second, and that screen is our lives. One of the beauties of travel is that it allows you to bring a stillness into the motion and the commotion of the world. “… the day stretches Infront of me like an open meadow,” says Pico in the talk. One of our greatest luxuries… In many a piece of music, it’s the pause or the rest that gives the piece its beauty and its shape.įind a ‘second home’ – if not in space, then in time. And it’s only by stepping back, and then further back, and holding still, that we can begin to see what the canvas means to catch the larger picture and a few people do that for us by going nowhere.” “Many of us have the sensation that we’re standing about two inches away from a huge screen, it’s noisy, crowded and it’s changing with every second, and that screen is our lives. We all know that in our on-demand lives, one of the things that’s most on-demand is ourselves. So much of our lives takes place inside our heads – in memory or imagination or interpretation or speculation, that if I really want to change my life, I might best begin by changing my mind. Taking a few minutes out of everyday, or a few days out or every season, or even, a some people do, a few years out of a life, in order to sit still long enough, to find out what moves you most, to recall where your truest happiness lies and to remember that sometimes making a living and making a life point in different directions. Sitting still is how most of us get what we most crave and need in our accelerated lives… A break.The best way that I could develop more attentive and more appreciative eyes was, oddly, by going nowhere and just by sitting still.One of the first things you learn when you travel is that nowhere is magical unless you can bring the right eyes to it.Here are some of the quotes from these three large concepts that Iyer has given TED talks about and can be visited on TED’s website, app and their channel on YouTube. We have also heard about the magnificent Art of Stillness, which can help you find so many answers and look within and lastly, a game of ping-pong, that teaches you a lot about the world on the whole.
Through a series of books, essays, talks and more, Pico Iyer talks about the pleasure of Going Nowhere, a concept that he says on an interview with Oprah Winfrey was first heard in the Wizard of Oz, which is much more than a children’s book about a fantasy land, Dorothy, and the friends she makes. Sitting still is how most of us get what we most crave and need in our accelerated lives… A break. One of Dalai Lama’s teachings says that kindness is his only religion, a teaching and a practice that resonates with several followers around the world, even when its practice might be a far cry because as simple as it sounds, it is the most difficult to consciously follow. It can be as much a starting point to getting inducted into a whole new world of understanding yourself and everyone else through a whole new set of eyes. It’s true if one might believe that his words are nothing short of experiencing and thereby practicing spirituality. On the Dalai Lama’s birthday this year in July, Pico Iyer and he had an immersive Q&A session organised by the Jaipur Literature Fest. The Art of Stillness was first introduced as a TED talk a few years ago following which we’ve heard Iyer on various interviews including one with Oprah Winfrey. Pico Iyer’s words flow like the sinuous path of a babbling brook through a mountainous terrain and bring you closer home, every time you read something by him or better still, have it narrated to you via an audiobook or a podcast.