How do you feel when you are doing nothing?
Just hanging out. Not doing anything that feels purposeful, getting you anywhere, moving you towards anything.
Do you feel anxious? Missing out on something? Wondering if you’re wasting time? Fearing that someone might judge you? Something else?
It’s so funny. What makes it so hard to do absolutely nothing?
Theoretically it would take zero effort to just sit there!
But yet we can’t seem to do nothing.
It can be the hardest thing to do nothing!
Our society places so much value on action.
We must be ACTION ORIENTED! Always improving! Going somewhere! Fixing something! Helping someone! Helping everyone!
And everyone around us wants us to be doing something. Our parents want us to be making money, making grandkids. Our friends are always pushing us with all their actions, all their successful airs, making us envious of where they are and where we aren’t. When we talk to them about our problems, they love to tell us what to DO! Just do what they tell you and everything will be all right!
Magic!
Just do do do do do do!
Well, let me tell you that doing nothing may be what you need.
First, I will level with you. Doing nothing is actually doing something.
YOU’RE DOING NOTHING!
YOU ARE TAKING ACTION BY DOING NOTHING!
Now that we’ve got that out of the way – why would you actually want to choose nothing as the current path of action?
It’s the answer to the question, what would you get out of doing nothing?
It could be:
You are wiped out and need rest and recovery.
You are in constant flight or fight mode and need to be away from stimulus to calm the system down.
You need time to integrate changes in your life.
You need space to reflect on new revelations discovered.
You need to get a handle on everything going on.
And other similar possibilities.
It could be that doing nothing is exactly what you need right now.
Your system is telling you to stop taking so much action!
Another reality – sometimes doing nothing is really just a massive reduction, giving you time and space that you didn’t have before.
In this case, are you really doing nothing? That could also be YOUR PERCEPTION.
For instance, every day you sleep, eat, shower. Obviously very few people are doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in their lives, like sitting in a cave fasting for days. Well there you go. Even that guy is not doing absolutely nothing, right?
It does bring up the question, what are your fears and feelings surrounding doing what you PERCEIVE as nothing?
And especially if doing a version of nothing is truly what you need?
Take a quick look at your life right now. What is your system saying to you? Is doing nothing the right option, that you’re dismissing because of some belief or value judgement?
You might try taking the action of doing NOTHING and see what happens!
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