Stillness Is the Key by Ryan Holiday

of his production studio in Pittsburgh, a snippet from one of his
favorite quotes: L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.
What’s essential is invisible to the eye.
That is: Appearances are misleading. First impressions are too.
We are disturbed and deceived by what’s on the surface, by what
others see. Then we make bad decisions, miss opportunities, or feel
scared or upset. Particularly when we don’t slow down and take the
time to really look.
Think about Khrushchev on the other side of the Cuban Missile
Crisis. What provoked his incredible overreach? A poor reading of
his opponent’s mettle. A rush to action. Shoddy thinking about how
his own actions would be interpreted on the world stage. It was a
nearly fatal miscalculation, as most rush jobs are.
Epictetus talked about how the job of a philosopher is to take our
impressions—what we see, hear, and think—and put them to the test.
He said we needed to hold up our thoughts and examine them, to
make sure we weren’t being led astray by appearances or missing
what couldn’t be seen by the naked eye.
Indeed, it is in Stoicism and Buddhism and countless other
schools that we find the same analogy: The world is like muddy
water. To see through it, we have to let things settle. We can’t be
disturbed by initial appearances, and if we are patient and still, the
truth will be revealed to us.
That’s what Mr. Rogers taught children to do—starting a crucial
habit as early as possible in their lives. In countless episodes, Rogers
would take a topic—whether it was self-worth or how crayons were
made, divorce or having fun—and walk his young viewers through
what was really happening and what it meant. He seemed to
naturally know how a kid’s mind would process information, and
he’d help them clear up understandable confusion or fears. He
taught empathy and critical reasoning skills. He reassured his
viewers that they could figure just about anything out if they took the
time to work through it—with him, together.
It’s a message he shared with adults too. “Just think,” Rogers
once wrote to a struggling friend. “Just be quiet and think. It’ll make
all the difference in the world.”