“I need more time for stillness” were the words from a client this week after we had sat out in the Autumn sun in a small park for an hour or so, talking little and with much silence in between any words spoken.
I’d gone up to the City of London for a regular meeting with the client in their office. Unusually, they seemed “stuck” about what to focus on. Rather than force it, instinctively I suggested we go out for a walk. A few minutes later, coffee in hand, we sat on a park bench in the sun watching the world go by. When we did talk, it was not about the business, and what we talked of was simply a flow from my client on whatever came to their mind.
After one last silence, they said, in deep knowing, “I need more time for stillness”. After that, in the next few minutes two powerful and strategic thoughts came to them, each of which could make a massive positive impact for them, their business, and beyond.
Sometimes we all need more time for stillness.
Oh, and that image above? As I walked back across London Bridge from my meeting, I looked up at The Shard (the tallest building in London) and saw that the sun was directly behind the top of the building. After the meeting, rather than pacing along to catch the first train I could, I was feeling both calm and also highly attuned to my surroundings. With that stillness in myself I looked up and saw that, with some composition of the image, I could take a photo that would bring life to the joke that Lord of the Ring fans have about the pointed top of The Shard, ie that it looks like Sauron’s tower, Barad-Dûr, only without the “all-seeing eye” at the top. Well, here it is, complete with that all-seeing eye.
It can be amazing, what is possible when we find stillness.
