The Busier You Are, the More You Have to Slow Down

In his new book, The Art of Stillness, veteran travel writer Pico Iyer suggests that the greatest adventure may be found in going nowhere.

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The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere considers how we need to step away from the speed and the busy-ness to see what’s truly important to life.

It’s a topic Iyer has discussed in the October 2014 issue of Mindful magazine. Iyer writes about how it’s the open spaces—the moments where you lose yourself, and aren’t latched to your gadgets and your deadlines—that help you to find contentment, joy, and peace of mind.

Iyer writes:

“The only way I’ve found to try to keep my balance in a globe permanently on the move—and ever more cluttered with stuff—is to step out of the world on a regular basis, and to step back from my life, so as to see what’s truly inside them. Otherwise, I can feel I’m standing two inches away from a vast and constantly shifting canvas, terminally unable to make out the larger picture.”