Hallelujah !  Leonard Cohen  ,  You were born to share your unique music , your boyish bashful humor and candid  wisdom with us.   (( September 21, 1934 – November 7, 2016 )) 

​The perfect antidote to a Sunday Morning in the Middle East , the first day of the working week.  “Stillness”  -   calming practical advice that is  grounding and helps steer focus.   
Grateful for Blinkist and the technology of audio book ( SUMMARIES ! 😊 ) that educate you as you run errands , drive and shop.  ( The irony of my multi tasking un-stillness is not lost on me )
Winston Churchill ,   Napolean , Ann Frank , Tiger Woods , John F Kennedy , Seneca and Marcus Aurelius … all faced anxiety and majorly tough decisions , all embraced stillness in some measure very regularly , from bricklaying to swimming to painting .    
Stillness = Decluttering of the physical and mental , till all that remains is authenticity.
Stillness = The ability to really be present. 
Stillness = The ability to mute external stimuli and focus inward.   
Stillness =   AEQUANIMITAS *   -  advocating equanimity and imperturbability , “coolness of mind under any circumstances”   
Stillness = The ability to limit the inputs in your life
Stillness = The ability to reflect deeply on your life ,  think clearly , sometimes finding beauty even in sadness and death. 
Stillness = The ability to cultivate silence so you begin to truly hear. 
Stillness = The ability to commune with nature – FOREST-BATHING **
Stillness = The ability to say “enough” and know contentment ( my dad Noel’s frequently used term) 

​True to the above , I have to begin my day with stillness and solitude if I am to get a grip on it.    Absence of this ritual leaves me scattered as well as grumpy , a rudderless ship wasting too much time with silly decisions that seem enormous.     
Ironically as well ,  one of the keys to overcoming my stutter was being totally comfortable with “SILENCE” ( Stillness ) and the PAUSE .  Resisting time pressure , formulating , centering and clarifying , establishing eye contact … were some of the non-negotiables we learned during the McGuire Speech programme.   Making the transition from “fearing” silence , to embracing it , from “embarrassment” in silence when words do not come out , to comforting or wise indifference ,  safe in the knowledge that one has the right to take those five extra seconds to get the appropriate words out.  Shifty substitution is not the solution. 
Making peace with the “Pause” then goes hand in hand with authenticity.  Merging the inner (private) and outer (public) self , till they align.  A gradual process .    Ryan Holiday uses the example of Tiger Woods  own periods of darkness and disharmony back in 2010 when his game suffered drastically, as a result of his personal life  .   He was unable to win a Major Title , until he made peace within .   Forgiveness and recovery are always within reach of the contrite .      
We turn our clocks forward today and everyone is a little out of sync .  One less hour .    Len comes over to me in my den with a generous second offering of a customary sip of his coffee  , as I stress over early morning emails .  It lights up my heart .  
Stillness  =  the little things of life and love that matter the most.