Sit Down... Do Nothing

photo by KoolPix

How often do you sit down and do absolutely nothing?

Of course, most of us would answer that we don’t have time to do nothing. But even if you do have a few free minutes, do you allow yourself to do nothing? In my experience, we are a society of “doers”; in other words, we do something or several things all the time. I think each one of us contributes to this fast pace of life. It starts early on in our childhood, when we are involved in many activities and seek entertainment all the time. How many times have you heard your children (or other people’s children) say, “I’m bored!” Do we ever teach our children to enjoy nothingness or boredom and just notice what’s going on in the present moment?

By the time we are adults, we often feel uncomfortable doing nothing. We like to do laundry, watch TV, talk on the phone and cook dinner - all at the same time. Even when we choose to relax and make nothingness the main form of entertainment, we manage to do something. I took a yoga class recently and during the last part of the class, students are typically asked to lay flat on their backs, close their eyes and enjoy the moment. As I was looking forward to this moment, I realized that we were not going to get it that time; rather, even the last few minutes of the class we were listening to loud music that focused our attention elsewhere. Even in a relaxation-oriented exercise, I found myself missing that experience of nothingness for a few minutes.

It seems like we need to train ourselves to do nothing sometimes. Breaks with ‘not doing’ may help us notice things around us, pay attention to our own deep needs/desires, and help us be a little more present in our relationships with others.

Here are a few suggestions for doing nothing (even if it is just 5-10 minutes a day or a week, you will notice the benefits). If you feel that your mind goes off wondering to all the tasks you need to accomplish, just notice it and give yourself a couple more minutes of doing nothing.

• Sit down inside or outside and just look at the tree outside your window. Have your kids/partner/friend join you for a few minutes. Having a cup of tea with it sound like a great idea.
• Come outside at night for a few minutes; look up and just gaze at the beautiful sky.
• Take a walk without your phone or iPod; just notice nature, people, houses around you.
• Eat one meal quietly, without TV, newspaper, or computer. Just taste the food and notice the feeling it creates in your body. You may actually find that you get full faster, because you are paying attention.
• Sit down next to the fireplace and enjoy watching the flames and fire.
• Get up and spend a few minutes sitting in your bed with your eyes closing and just feeling your body.
• During work, take a break and take a few breaths and really feel each inhale and exhale.
• Take a vacation where you don’t over-plan the number of activities. Just see what unfolds and enjoy the uncertainty of what each day may bring and feel like.
• Play a game with your kids to enjoy the moment. Ask them to describe what they see, smell, touch.
• Walk by a body of water and just enjoy it: smell the air, hear the waves crashing on the shore, put your feet, hands in the water.
• Sit on a swing and enjoy the ride!
• Give someone a hug and stay there for a few seconds… just surrender to the feeling of hugging and receiving a hug.

Please tell us your stories of doing nothing. What feels good?