Pico Iyer: The Art of Stillness

Oprah's Super Soul

Oprah

Society & Culture

4.6 • 32.9K Ratings

🗓️ 26 September 2018

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Best-selling author and travel writer Pico Iyer discusses the benefits of bringing stillness into our lives. Pico, a lifelong traveler who has journeyed all over the world, from India to Ethiopia to Cuba to Kathmandu, realized our lives are crowded, chaotic and noisy. He says there has never been a greater need to slow down, tune out and give ourselves permission to be still. Pico walked away from a successful career writing for Time magazine in New York City, where he worked on the 25th floor and had a nice apartment on Park Avenue. "I was making a great living, but that's not the same as making a life," Pico says. In his book "The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere," he writes about the unexpected adventure of staying put and that sitting quietly in a room just might be the ultimate adventure. Pico also reveals how we can take our feelings of home with us wherever we go.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Oprah Winfrey. Welcome to Super Soul Conversations, the podcast. I believe that one of
0:07.5	the most valuable gifts you can give yourself is time, taking time to be more fully present.
0:16.0	Your journey to become more inspired and connected to the deeper world around us starts right
0:23.1	now.
0:24.9	Born in 1957 in Oxford, England to Indian parents, Peacock Eier was a global soul before
0:31.0	he could even talk. When he was seven, his family moved half a world away to Santa Barbara,
0:36.0	California. By the time he was nine, he was flying alone up to six times a year to boarding
0:41.0	school in England. His love of travel ignited his desire to write, and his multicultural
0:47.4	upbringing provided a unique perspective for his work. After earning a master's degree
0:53.0	at Harvard, he landed his dream job in 1982, reporting on world affairs for Time magazine.
1:00.3	He led a seemingly glamorous life. He had a man had an apartment, a job criss-crossing
1:05.9	the globe on assignment. Yet Peacock says he was so busy he never stopped to figure out
1:11.3	whether or not he was really happy. So when he was 29, he decided to take a chance on a
1:17.2	quieter life and a place he says always felt familiar to him. For more than two decades,
1:24.0	this renowned journalist and author of 13 books has embraced a simpler life of contemplation.
1:30.6	He shares the wisdom he's learned in his latest book, The Art of Stillness.
1:36.0	I knew we would be fast friends. When at the beginning of The Art of Stillness, I read,
1:41.8	if ever I go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own
1:46.1	backyard because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with one of my favorite
1:52.6	quotes from The Wizard of Oz. Yes. Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.
1:56.4	From the wisest vessel around his little girl in The Backyard.
1:59.3	Yes, not only the wisest person around, I think The Wizard of Oz is one of the wisest teachings
	...

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