The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere

Five minutes later, I've walked out of the door, across to the office next door, and I'm already at work.

At this time of the day, and without the need of any coffee or tea, I can start to write a book, work on a presentation or take an endless flow of email.

So how do I slow down? That was the question I asked myself as we approached our December break.

We're all so alert, so full of this persistent need to work, to learn, to keep going at high speed.

How do we slow down without losing momentum? And if we were to slow down, where would we get this time to slow down? This last question seems to cut right to the core.

But we have no time to do what is important for us.

Which is why I started first listening to, then reading a book that I'd bought almost two years ago.

Yes, the irony wasn't lost on me.