Sometimes, we need some idleness in life to come up with beautiful thoughts; there’s also joy in doing nothing, freeing our minds from life’s stressors.
On sending this little thought recently to a lady friend, Dinia, a retired nurse based in Texas, she responded, “Oh, yes, I agree with you. We all need to take time out for ourselves and have what we call ‘me moments.” Let’s give ourselves a moment just for us throughout the day because we deserve it.”
I had a similar experience many years ago when a heavy downpour of rain hit Scarborough, Toronto. I stayed home the whole day, but one unexpected thing happened: I discovered the joy of doing nothing.
One time, when my publisher emailed me about the deadline for submitting my article, I was about to pound on the keys of my computer.
But I couldn’t think of anything else to write about; I stared at my laptop’s monitor for a few minutes. Maybe it was just a case of writer’s block.
Well, instead of forcing myself to think hard about the topic to write about, I decided to look out my window and watch the rain. I saw the raindrops dripping down the windowpane and closely observed the trees swaying back and forth because of the strong wind.
Shortly, I could hear the winds howling and buffeting our roofs. Though the sky was slowly becoming grey and gloomy-looking, the changing colours of the tree leaves (green, brown, red, and orange) and the fallen autumn leaves on the ground, blown about by the wind, were enough to lift my spirits.
The Fall season has arrived right in front of our home.
Oh, what a pleasure not to do anything—it’s an excellent way to relax, to shut my mind from life’s cares and distractions; since time stands still, there’s no need to worry about the time well spent idling away.
We’ve been conditioned and trained to always keep ourselves busy, to rush things, and to remind ourselves not to idle, because time is precious.
However, being idle for a few moments is also about giving ourselves a respite, a time to rest, and a chance to clear our tired minds. After being inactive for a while, we’re ready again to tackle another task and become more productive.
In short, doing nothing is not synonymous with laziness; remember, being idle is only temporary.
When we do nothing and allow ourselves to be idle, even for just a few minutes, we are almost freeing our minds of life’s stressors. Afterward, we feel reinvigorated both physically and emotionally; we are ready to meet new challenges and look at problems from different perspectives.
Or we go with the flow of life, constantly reminding ourselves that doing nothing could even prolong our lifespan.
Despite the relative joy, peace of mind, and ease of life we experience living in this part of the world, worries and anxieties sometimes set in. These anxieties cause us to think hard about the uncertainty of life.
While we are enjoying some of life’s comforts, such as having beautiful houses, an abundance of food, promising careers, and lots of travels –the sad reality is still staring at us: the never-ending anxieties, worries about life in general, our future, our children’s future, violence, impending recession, rising of unemployment, loss of jobs, the rising cost of living etcetera, etcetera.
Well, let’s spare ourselves of these many worries, even for a short while.
Let’s discover the beauty and wisdom of having our’ me moments.”
