Back in 2020,
Just as the pandemic was beginning,
We hosted a series of conversations,
Each of them with a wise and intriguing individual.
We recommenced the series in 2022.
We created this summary of some of the best outtakes for you to dive into and reflect on wiser conversations.
We hope you enjoy this look back and encourage you to share the episode with friends and colleagues.
I think what this moment is reminding us of is we have much less control over the outside world than we imagine,
But we have much more control over our own world than we suspect.
In these overwhelming times,
It's urgent to slow down and relish in being still.
In this episode,
I talk with Piko Ayo from his Kyoto home.
He's the author of The Art of Stillness,
Revered by the New Yorker as a spiritual and intellectual adventurer.
His four TED Talks have been watched more than 10 million times.
There's reflections on what he calls our inner world.
Join us.
When the world is moving back to where it was,
What would you wish to see?
I think the two things we can really get in this moment are a sense of priorities,
Which we lose when we're moving around too much,
And a sense of perspective.
And whatever the nature of your life is.
In recent years,
We've all been aware that people almost boast about how busy they are,
Even though we know that people who are busy are seldom very wise.
And people who are wise are seldom too busy.
And people who are busy are also seldom very happy and seldom very kind.
And I find my happiest moments come when I'm really,
Really absorbed in something.
And my least happy moments are when I'm all over the place and distracted,
As it were.
So this moment of enforced absorption might remind us how we can best do justice to our business,
As well as our family and every other aspect of our lives.
I know you're in the business world,
And I'm often in Silicon Valley,
For example,
Where the companies have really figured this out.
I have a friend at Google who,
In a normal run of things,
He makes appointments with himself every week,
Because he figures only if he can spend,
Let's say,
3pm to 4pm every Tuesday by himself,
Which means going for a walk,
Thinking something through,
Just resting.
Only by doing that does he have something to bring to the rest of his appointments.
And that's why those companies give their employees 20% of their paid time free,
Because that's going to make their work more productive.
How do we not lose that?
I mean,
That's partly to do with paying,
It's about attention,
Right?
Paying attention to different things.
How do we maintain that,
Build rhythm now,
When we've got this sense of spaciousness,
But also going forward,
When we are maybe swamped or taken back into the slipstream?
I would say build a new rhythm in the light of what you've discovered.
Right now,
We're all going to a new country that most of us have never been to before.
And like every new country,
It's full of challenges and shocks.
But there are certain things you think,
Oh,
I like the way they do things here in Italy or California or wherever.
Why don't I take that back into my life in Auckland or Japan?
And so there are certain things that we notice that make us richer,
More wide awake,
More attentive in this moment.
I think we can build a new rhythm in which we do that.
For example,
I have,
Like everybody,
Little rules for myself.
I never go online for two hours before I sleep,
Because if I do,
My sleep is much worse and I wake up jangled.
I try to go as long as possible after I wake up without going online or checking my messages.
And of course,
Many people's jobs don't allow that.
But within the parameters of your job,
There's more scope for.
.
.
I have friends who,
When they drive to the office every morning,
To address this,
They'll go 20 minutes early and then they'll just sit in their car for 20 minutes,
Which sounds boring,
But actually it's the way they prepare themselves for everything that's going to follow.
They built in that quiet time into their very unquiet days.
So a long time ago,
Because I'm a busy journalist,
I got into the habit every three months I go on retreat to a Benedictine monastery for three days.
And there are always.
.
.
I'm not a Christian,
There are always a million reasons not to go,
But I go there the same way I take my car in to have its tires realigned and an oil check every few months.
It's my oil check.
And after three days of just silence,
I come back so much more energetic,
Joyful,
Refreshed,
And knowing exactly what to do in the next three months.
And if I didn't take a break,
I'd be just in a chaos fighting my way blindly through those months.
So I think it behooves every one of us to make those little spaces in the day.
And if we haven't had enough of them before,
This moment is reminding us how precious they are and that we can make them.
Nobody is too busy to do that.
I travel every year across Japan with the Dalai Lama,
Who's I think one of the most overburdened people on the planet.
He spends four hours every morning before 8.
30 when his day begins meditating.
So I figured,
Well,
If the Dalai Lama,
Who's the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibetans,
Responsible for 14 million people,
Can spend four hours,
I can probably spend 20 minutes.
And I think if you're a CEO or a busy mother or whoever you are,
Most of us who are not in war zones and not living on the streets have that more chance than we know.
And we will always feel the better for it.
And as I say,
You can spend 30 minutes in the health club,
30 minutes in the mental health club is not wasted.
Kia ora,
Thank you for taking the time to tune into this mini episode by Wiser Conversations.
The host is Derek Handley and I'm the creative producer,
Shazara Blumfield.
We do wonder what resonated with you from this recording.
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We hope you'll join us again soon.
In an age of speed,
I began to think nothing could be more invigorating than going slow.
In an age of distraction,
Nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention.
And in an age of constant movement,
Nothing is more urgent than sitting still.
