itвЂ™s like I find a piece of me that I had lost, not really knowing that I lost it. I get lost in such a beautiful way that itвЂ™s hard to describe. However, with such breathtaking views and beautiful light, a stop here and there is inevitable.ДЄs soon as I take out my camera I find that stillness within, that deep sense of peace that I crave everyday. To me, these travels are not so much a photographic exploration, but more a time to visit with my parents and my 'old' country the camera just comes along. Instead, I head out to my parents quiet lakeside cabin to take a rest from my self imposed stressful life and to experience kyrrГ° og rГі (peace and quiet).ДЄfter a couple of days of recuperating, my parents and I head on excursions around the island. Stillness or KyrrГ° (in Icelandic)-the word itself brings me right back to one of the few places I have found perfect stillness in mind and body: Iceland.Д®very year I travel from my home in Vancouver, Canada, to Iceland, the place of my birth. This lyrical and inspiring book expands on a new idea, offering a way forward for all those feeling affected by the frenetic pace of our modern world.ARTISTS STATEMENT - FROM 'THE ART OF STILLNESS'

In 2013, Pico Iyer gave a blockbuster TED Talk. Ultimately, Iyer shows that, in this age of constant movement and connectedness, perhaps staying in one place is a more exciting prospect, and a greater necessity than ever before. The Art of Stillness paints a picture of why so many-from Marcel Proust to Mahatma Gandhi to Emily Dickinson-have found richness in stillness. Growing trends like observing an вЂњInternet SabbathвЂќ-turning off online connections from Friday night to Monday morning-highlight how increasingly desperate many of us are to unplug and bring stillness into our lives. These aren't New Age fads so much as ways to rediscover the wisdom of an earlier age. He reflects that this is perhaps the reason why many people-even those with no religious commitment-seem to be turning to yoga, or meditation, or seeking silent retreats. Iyer also draws on his own experiences as a travel writer to explore why advances in technology are making us more likely to retreat. In The Art of Stillness-a TED Books release-Iyer investigate the lives of people who have made a life seeking stillness: from Matthieu Ricard, a Frenchman with a PhD in molecular biology who left a promising scientific career to become a Tibetan monk, to revered singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, who traded the pleasures of the senses for several years of living the near-silent life of meditation as a Zen monk. ThereвЂ™s never been a greater need to slow down, tune out and give ourselves permission to be still.

Why might a lifelong traveler like Pico Iyer, who has journeyed from Easter Island to Ethiopia, Cuba to Kathmandu, think that sitting quietly in a room might be the ultimate adventure? Because in our madly accelerating world, our lives are crowded, chaotic and noisy. A follow up to Pico IyerвЂ™s essay вЂњThe Joy of Quiet,вЂќ The Art of Stillness considers the unexpected adventure of staying put and reveals a counterintuitive truth: The more ways we have to connect, the more we seem desperate to unplug.

The art of stillness ted