This is the classic self-help book that I would never have considered reading, but….  Written by a former marketing director with the clothing company,  American Apparel, a guy who dropped out of college, an author whose self-help book reached #1 on the NYT bestseller list, “Stillness” is not a book I would have picked off the shelf at my local bookstore.

However, it was recommended so enthusiastically by a friend (one who shares my birthday!) and at a moment of open mindedness while chatting after Yom Kippur services, that I requested it from the CPL and plunged in.  Pleased that I did so.

Holiday’s book is a combination of classic mindfulness advice (empty your mind, be present, focus on your breath), Stoic philosophy (Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius. Cicero, Lucretius. Seneca), and contemporary and pop figures (Tiger Woods, Mr. Rogers, Marco Rubio, and many others).  I found his writing to be interesting and refreshing, not corny or silly like so many self-help books and more interesting and varied than the standard mindfulness tome.

The advice is solid and practical.  In 34 brief chapters divided into three sections (mind, spirit, body) Holiday guides the reader through a series of approaches, practices, attitudes, etc. all designed to provide one with the stillness in this crazy world that enables one to think and find the values that matter to them.  In reading this book, I was reminded of the lesson Tolstoy was teaching us in “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”—meaning in life is not in career, achievements, or honors but in relationships and inside one’s own head and heart.

A random opening of the book brought me to chapters on choosing virtue, finding a hobby, building a routine, cultivating silence, and taking a walk.  The advice is clearly stated and not airy-fairy.  It’s a book that will take its place on my meditation and mindfulness collection shelf and one that I will likely re-read down the road.  Thank, Sid.