WAYS TO FIND STILLNESS IN A CONSTANTLY DISTRACTED WORLD

 “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

 — Blaise Pascal

The Buddhist word for it was upekkha. The Muslims spoke of aslama. The Hebrews, hishtavut. The second book of the Bhagavad Gita, the epic poem of the warrior Arjuna, speaks of samatvam, an “evenness of mind—a peace that is ever the same.” The Greeks, euthymia and hesychia. The Epicureans, ataraxia. The Christians, aequanimitas.

In English: stillness To be steady while 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. 

STILLNESS is that quiet moment when inspiration hits you. It’s that ability to step back and reflect. It’s what makes room for gratitude and happiness. It’s one of the most powerful forces on earth.

All of your greatest thoughts and ideas arrive when your monkey mind is still, you can train your mind to be still so that it doesn't wander around,

so that it doesn't make you check your recent messages while you are taking a class,

so that it doesn't distract you when you are trying to focus so that you can build a long attention span in a world that finds amusement in 15-second videos.

So what are the ways we can train the mind to be still?

1)GET UP EARLY(NOT FOR NIGHT-OWLS)

--Getting up early is not a success habit, it's an action that you do to have a quiet time for yourself. This is the time you can be focused on the task at hand.

There are no distractions, no one is texting you, there is no twitter storm and if you wake up early than everyone else probably you don't have anyone to bother you too.

There is a different energy in the morning air, the quietness you feel your brain is fresh and your muscles are relaxed also your brain waves alter between alpha and theta( brain states responsible for the phenomena of "flow").

So when you wake up early, you don't have to touch your smartphones, you don't have to connect with anyone but yourself. So when you are free from distractions you will feel better focused which will 

increase your attention span, willpower, the ability to concentrate.

Also waking up early is a mental edge over others, you are connecting with yourself while the others are sleeping just because they had to complete the Netflix marathon the previous night.

If you find it difficult to wake up early, here is an extract from the book  MEDITATIONS by MARCUS AURELIUS which depicts how he battled the warmth of bed by the journal.

--

Aurelius writes:

At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”

To the mind’s natural protestation that staying under the blankets simply feels nicer, Aurelius retorts:

So you were born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?

Our nature, he insists, is to live a life of service — to help others and contribute to the world. Any resistance to this inherent purpose is, therefore, a negation of our nature and a failure of self-love. He writes:

You don’t love yourself enough. Or you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you.

This was his journal, he didn't write this to publish it, it was written to stay true to his purpose and to find strength through difficult situations.

 

FOR NIGHT-OWLS

--Before you call yourselves "Night-owls" please ask yourself, Do I stay up late because that is the time I feel more creative and focused?

or

Do I stay up late to watch TV shows and complete Netflix marathons?

Don't call yourself a night owl if you said yes to the latter question.

 

2)Journal

"PAPER IS MORE PATIENT THAN PEOPLE"

I have discussed the types of the journal before, but here we need the MORNING PAGES,

First, the morning pages could be used anytime you wake up, it is labelled morning pages as the hour you wake up your brain is more clear hence the name.

How do you journal?

--It's not rocket science actually, just get a good journal, anything in which you are attracted to write each morning and regularly sit down and just write anything that comes to your mind if you feel an emotion

or any type of discomfort just write it down also if your mind wanders while writing on a journal make a note of that on the journal too.

The idea is to trap your monkey mind on paper, we aren't doing this to find a solution to your problems this is just to get it out of your head so that you can go on with your day.

Morning pages are like spiritual windshield wipers: they clear your head, after you have written something, write down three things you are grateful for and try to list down in particular. for instance,

You are grateful for your family, this is a general idea, instead, try and pick a particular person.

Morning pages and a gratitude practice will take you miles ahead.

3)Routine

--Having a routine which you follow daily is one of the best ways to develop discipline, will power and stillness in your life.

Doing your daily tasks at the same time every day will lead to discipline and you won’t need to drag yourself to work.

It's almost Ironic that the world's richest people or any high performing individual with financial freedom can do anything at any time they want but they all have multiple routines. This is what brings order back when things are constantly changing.

Making a routine is a whole new topic but here is a pro tip

: schedule your break times even before you schedule your work time, many people(including me) while making a schedule for the first time just put in work, work and work but until now we have been taking breaks too frequently and for too long.

Scheduling a break time gives you an assurance that you can rest at this particular time so that you can focus while working.

4)NO MULTITASKING

--When you multitask your mind is altering between two jobs at a very high pace which deteriorates your attention span and your ability to focus. Also when you multi-task you can not get the true experience of things.

MARCUS AURELIUS SAID, "FOCUS LIKE A ROMAN", by which he meant to do the task at hand like the last thing you would do on the earth.

So stop multitasking, stop watching television while you eat, stop checking Instagram while you take online classes FOCUS LIKE A ROMAN.

5)HAVE A MANTRA FOR THE DAY

When you journal in the morning and if you face any issue and imagine what your future self would advise you to do in this situation. If you get an answer write it down, think about it and carry the mantra 

along with you wherever you go, it is a piece of advice by your future self, preserve it, live by it, use that to get through the day!

6)CONSCIOUS USE  OF SOCIAL MEDIA

We are all guilty of scrolling down our feed for no reason, in particular, 

having an intention in mind when you open a social media app has made a world of difference for me!

whatever you intention be whether its education or just fun, schedule it when you want to use your social media fix a time in a day or maybe multiple times if you are addicted to it but do it on purpose,

there is no important message that is delivered via Instagram, if it was that important people would have called you so there is no need to look at it all the time.

--

These were some of the ways I have used for months to still my mind, I have purposely excluded meditation because I wanted this post to be about active stillness.

I hope you gain great value from this post and try these methods out. The results will take time but you shall feel it in about two weeks.

MARCUS AURELIUS

"CAREFUL AS SOMEONE CROSSING AN ICED-OVER STORM

ALERT AS A WARRIOR IN ENEMY TERRITORY

COURTEOUS AS A GUEST

FLUID AS MELTING ICE

SHAPE-ABLE AS A BLOCK OF WOOD

RECEPTIVE AS A VALLEY

CLEAR AS A GLASS OF WATER"