Welcome to Stoic Snippets,
The track that is short in length but not in depth.
If you seek tranquility,
Do less.
Marcus Aurelius.
I watched a fascinating short video this week.
A budding botanist collected a beaker of muddy puddle water after serious downpour.
It looked disgusting.
But then he left it under some light with a time-lapse camera,
Taking photos every few hours.
By day three you could see the small bugs and worms crawling out of the different places.
By day five the water had cleared and there was a little bit of sediment still available.
But by day 15 there was a fully formed ecosystem.
An entire universe of life had revealed itself,
Just by being left alone.
It made me think about the importance of quiet and calm in finding clarity,
Even in the messiest of times.
My life,
By the way,
Is pretty messy right now.
A toddler,
A newborn and two very tired parents makes for an uphill battle.
And I've fallen into a trap,
Trying to multitask my way through the chaos.
I listen to a podcast while I bathe my boy and put him to bed.
I catch up on the news while commuting.
At every spare moment I receive information.
And I realize now,
I never let the mud settle.
I just constantly churn it up.
In fact,
The Thames here in London,
The river that runs straight through the beautiful city,
Looks very brown.
It's not the prettiest of rivers by any stretch of the imagination.
But it's not because it's dirty.
It's because it's always moving.
You see,
The current keeps kicking up the silt and so the silt never settles and so the water always looks murky.
That is my mind right now.
And I dare say it's your mind at times.
Disturbed and never clear,
But always moving.
See,
I'm constantly stirring things up so I never get to see the deeper parts of my own mind.
I never allow that ecosystem to take hold.
Ironically,
I'm far more productive when I do nothing.
Now hear me out.
Often when I sit in the sauna,
I come up with my best ideas.
I solve some big problems.
Not by trying harder,
But by stepping back and letting things settle.
So if you find yourself overwhelmed,
Take the advice of Marcus Aurelius.
Do less.
Personally,
I recommend doing less in a warm sauna,
But that's just me.
Clarity comes not from more input,
But from less disturbance.
Good luck out there.
