A story is told that Walter Massa, an Italian winemaker from Tortona, offered this distinction: “We shouldn’t stand still. We should be still.”
A subtle difference. One you likely caught immediately.
Standing still suggests paralysis. Frozen by indecision or fear or the weight of what comes next. We’ve all been there—caught between moving forward and staying put, accomplishing neither.
Being still is entirely different.
The winemaker who walks through the vineyard knows this. They move with purpose while attending to what’s immediately before them. A tendril that needs tying. A diseased leaf requiring removal. The story of the land unfolds one careful step at a time.
This is presence. This is the art of knowing where you are while understanding where you’re going.
I think about the leaders I work with who confuse motion with progress. I am guilty at times as well. They’re always moving – meetings, initiatives, pivots, expansions. Yet they rarely pause to consider if they’re building something that matters or merely checking boxes that create the illusion of forward momentum.
The vineyard teaches us otherwise. Growth happens in stillness. Not the stillness of inaction, but the stillness of attention. Of tending what’s before you with care while trusting the process you’ve committed to.
This year, consider the difference. Are you standing still – paralyzed by the weight of decisions unmade? Or are you learning to be still – present, attentive, moving with purpose through the work that actually matters?
The winemaker tends the same vines year after year. Same land. Same rows. Yet each season brings something new because they’re paying attention. They’re still enough to notice what needs noticing.
Maybe that’s what this year asks of us. Not frantic motion. Not paralyzed indecision. Just the discipline of being still while we move forward.
What will you tend this year?
This reflection draws from Fabio Maria Pepe’s essay “Moving or staying?” and the wisdom of Walter Massa, winemaker from Tortona, Italy.
Wishing you a year of purposeful stillness, meaningful progress, and the wisdom to know the difference.
