Spirituality

Doing Nothing is Something Worth Doing

By Beth Trouy

When 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 other responsibilities, there’s little time left for idleness.

Studies also show that working 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 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. We have much more likelihood

of coming up with fresh ideas when we are mindfully idle. Creativity is at its highest when our brains are relaxed in

peaceful stillness. Doing nothing 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?