The Importance of Stillness

In a world where speed and data is king, it’s now more important than ever to intentionally carve out moments of quiet in our everyday life.

The average person consumers 16 movies worth of data every single day, and that’s not counting the emotional baggage we carry in our day-to-day life. Humans are not machine and it’s impossible for us to process data at this level. Instead of ramping ourselves up to be as fast as we can, to try to match the pace of our machine counterparts, I’d argue that we should be slowing down to filter out actual critical information we need to work on.

Have you noticed how you get sudden clarity on your walk, in the shower, or staring out at the ocean? When we have the space to think, our brain is able to process the information relevant to the problem we’re thinking about through diffused mode thinking. This is where the brain is in a relaxed mental state that lets it make connections and solve problems more creatively.

If you’re feeling lost, overwhelmed, or burnout. Try de-stimulating your environment. Carve out quiet time throughout your day to give your mind a break. To do the deeper work of solving problems, connecting with ourselves, and relating to the world, we need to clear the space to make room for the clutter, so that we can begin sorting and making sense of it.

Your wants, needs, values, and beliefs are buried in the clutter, everyday more and more things get piled on. Until we make an effort to excavate them, we’ll always live with a vague knowing of something being there, but not quite sure how and why it relates to us.

You will be able to see clearer when the water is calm.