Doing Nothing is Something Worth Doing By Beth Trouy
other responsibilities, there’s
Creativity is at its highest
Studies also show that working
peaceful stillness. Doing nothing
little time left for idleness.
more does not coincide with
more productivity. In fact, the opposite is true. Productivity
declines as does performance after a certain amount of
time. The Centers for Disease
Control show more injuries and
performance decline when one goes beyond 9 hours of work.
Fatigue, cognitive sluggishness and distraction increase as
our brains struggle to stay on
task. Combine that with multi-
tasking and we have a recipe for accidents. It’s no surprise that people who regularly work 60
W
hen was the last time
you sat still in complete
silence for more than 10
minutes? No music, no company, no phone. Nothing. Silence.
Stillness. No, sleeping does not
count and neither does praying. I’m talking about intentionally taking yourself off the grid for the explicit purpose of
deliberately paying attention to your thoughts and sensations without judgment; being fully present to yourself in a void
of silence. Just 10 minutes to sit and hear your breathing
without thinking of work and all the things you need to be
doing. What I’m referring to is an intentional mindfulness of oneself in the present, which
is a form of meditation. If you
can’t recall the last time you meditated, you are in good
company. It’s rare these days that anyone chooses to be
mindfully idle with no agenda
other than to be. Perhaps this is
also why we are all more anxious than ever and finding it harder to cope with life.
For a country who works more
hours per person than any other country in the world, we can’t
conceive of “wasting” time doing nothing. A recent Gallup survey
showed that not only are 50% of Americans averaging 47 hours of work per week, but some of us (18%) are working weekly
more than 60 hours. And that’s
just our job hours. If we calculate our work at home and our
or more hours a week have an
average life span that is 15 years
less than the national population. Between balancing work, home
responsibilities, and community commitments, there’s little time left for idle thought.
Doing nothing seems like such
a waste of time. How can we do nothing when there’s always
things that need to be attended to and projects waiting to be
completed? But doing nothing
IS doing something. In fact, it’s
during the times of idleness that
our brains regenerate, replenish, and recover. This state of
mindful focus on nothingness is
more important than work itself.
when our brains are relaxed in is exactly what we need most
when we are experiencing the stress of being too busy.
Mindfulness not only restores our inner peace but it also
provides the gift of clarity. Going
off the grid and taking a moment to still the mind allows us time
to process and regain a clearer
vision. We force unruly children into “timeout” with their faces
in the corner of a room so they can calm down. It’s too bad we can’t do the same for adults. We often don’t know what is
best for us at the moment any better than a 4-year-old. We
would do much better to take a time out and go sit in a corner in silence rather than heading
to the bar, scanning videos on our phones or trying to cram
in “one more thing.” If only we
had adult “mindfulness zones” expertly placed in high stress areas where we could detach
from all stimuli and power down for a time. Are you looking for something to do to help with your anxiety?
Try doing nothing.
We have much more likelihood of coming up with fresh ideas when we are mindfully idle.
SPIRITUALITY |
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