How do you react when you have nothing to do? In the modern world, it is highly likely that you never really feel like you have nothing to do, there’s always that box set to what that your best friend recommended or the book to be read that everyone on your team is reading. If you have a quiet morning, chances are you’ll get a phone call or a text or somehow an invitation to fall in with someone else’s plans.
Or maybe you are someone who is already confident that there’s never a time when there’s nothing to do. There are always household chores, gardening, decluttering, or the things at the bottom of the to do list at work or at home that typically just get carried over every time you start a new one…
To be honest, that’s kinda how I have been for much of my life. It’s not that I don’t meditate or swim or do lots of things that of themselves are relaxing and nourishing. I haven’t been lying to you about that! But it has recently come into my awareness, that the energy that I have often brought to many of those activities is that it’s another task to “get done”.
Or to put it another way, I have increasingly had the sense that I approach such activities as a means to an end – I meditate to try to get still or swim to get fit or reach my 2km goal etc. I’ve greatly enjoyed the activities and the goals being reached. And yet, I have this growing awareness that all of it could be experienced at a much deeper level.
I recently posted on social media this quote from Matsuo Basho:
“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes, and the grass grows, by itself.”
What if, by doing nothing and just being, we could allow our own growth to happen by itself? It can feel a bit paradoxical, right? That by doing nothing, great things can happen.
But being still doesn’t mean doing nothing or not bothering. Stillness is not stagnation, nor is it about retreating from life. Rather, it is what happens when we fully inhabit each moment, not striving for self-improvement, not trying to make someone else do something or behave differently, simply just being with what is.
As the philosopher Blaise Pascal noted:
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
Let’s personalise this for a moment: “All of my problems stem from my inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Think about that. Reflect on that.
And if that’s true, what would happen in my life if I was willing to embrace sitting quietly in a room alone?
Photo by Margit Bantowsky on Unsplash
I’ve been working on this all year so far! One of the things I’ve been doing is mindful breathing and focusing on the breath. I’m enjoying it and getting a lot out of it. I’ve been doing it for 20 minutes per day. Then one day recently I decided to just not do anything with my breath, to just sit and be for 20 minutes.
It was excruciating! I found it so hard. I jostled around, kept looking at the clock. I felt like I was going out of my mind. And it helped me to realise that I often feel like this: squirming and uncomfortable when I don’t have things to do!
I feel so blessed that from just one moment of surrender to doing nothing, I had the most amazing insight. I recognised that much of the busyness in my life derives not from the facts of my life, my family circumstances or running my own business. The busyness comes from my inability to sit still and do nothing.
And I think it likely that you may be the same, because this inability to sit still and do nothing is a bit of an epidemic!
This insight was further reinforced for me by a friend who was on holidays recently. By happy accident, she left her phone in her car at the airport when heading off. As a result, she was completely unplugged for her 5-day vacation, and she said it was the best holiday, best sleep and best experience ever.
What I extrapolated from her experience is that the holiday was as it was planned to be anyway, but because she wasn’t trying to photograph it as it was happening, and wasn’t being pulled away to thinking about work or home via texts and emails and because she wasn’t looking at the time, she was able to enjoy being on holidays with no other requirements other than to just be. And that made all the difference.
So, I want to invite you into an experiment with me today. Let’s embrace stillness and doing nothing, at least for the next month.
And no, it doesn’t mean that we’re taking the month off from work or other commitments! We’re not committing to being in perfect meditation for hours on end (though it could include a bit of that if you so desire!). It’s really about being able to come present into the moment and fully experience that the stillness therein.
This is what it could look like in practice: Taking a few mindful breaths before a meeting. Tuning in to your senses before meeting a client or going on a call. A quiet cup of tea without your phone. Lying on the grass and watching the clouds move.
The wonderful Peter Harper, aka The Drunken Monk recently suggested the following to practice and experience stillness. Take three minutes, three times in the morning, afternoon and evening respectively, and simply ask yourself: what could I do in the next 3 minutes to make myself more comfortable? Physically, mentally, emotionally, what can I do to feel more relaxed or at ease in this moment? Examples could include adjusting your posture, doing some breathwork or heart coherence, drinking some water, getting out in nature for a few minutes…
And here are some journalling prompts that I suggest we work with, so we can learn for ourselves, at the level of the individual, what stillness means and what doing nothing looks like for you
- What beliefs do I hold about rest, stillness, or being unproductive?
- In what ways might stillness be supportive of my growth, healing, or clarity right now?
- What simple practices could help me invite more stillness into my day?
- If I stopped trying to fix or improve anything for a moment, what might I notice or feel?
And again, this experiment is not a means to an end… it simply means allowing yourself to be and your life to unfold.
Photo by Melissa Askew on Unsplash
If you would love to be further empowered to create your best year yet, join us at the Vision Workshop Live on 9-11 May 2025 in Cork!
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