I recently realised that during my waking hours, I am always doing something. There is never a time when I am doing nothing. By doing nothing, I mean just having quiet time to think, mull things over or just relax and do nothing.
What is nothing?
To be clear, what I define as doing nothing is just that – just sitting there and breathing, that’s it. There are times when I am doing nothing productive, but I honestly can’t remember the last time I was doing absolutely nothing at all.
I wake, and then eat. When I am not at work I’ll be reading, writing, watching TV, playing the guitar or working out. I think that I get edgy when I have nothing to do, my attention span is so short that I always have to be doing something.
I read recently that the human brain is chemically conditioned to respond to new stimuli. This is why as humans, by nature we slip in to multi-tasking, the inevitable procrastination and the inability to finish anything. We chemically respond to new things to do and therefore we are always doing something, as new things crop up all of the time.
There is a trend for mediation in some circles. I don’t think that you need to go that far – mediation isn’t about being a hippy.
Here’s the simplest form of meditation that I am going to start to try:
1. Find somewhere quiet to sit.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Say a mantra (something like just saying “in and out” as you breath is fine).
4. If, and more likely when, you mind wanders, let it. Just relax, say your mantra and allow your mind to empty.
Before you approach meditation, it may be beneficial to do one of the following:
a) Not call it mediation. Just have quiet time.
b) Start with just 5 minutes.
c) Make time in your schedule to do this. You will benefit from it.
I’d love to hear other people’s experiences in this area. Do you meditate, or can you not remember the last time you truly did absolutely nothing?
