The big payoff that comes from doing absolutely nothing
Are we so afraid of spending time alone with our own thoughts that we find tasks to occupy every moment of our waking day?
We must stop consuming our days in this unmitigated busyness. When we’re running from moment to moment, task to task, we lose perspective. Events and circumstances start to feel all-consuming. We stop finding happiness in the stillness. Daily problems become something to be managed, not resolved.
When we’re caught up in our heads, distracted by worry or fear, we’re not present or clear-headed. And when we’re not clear-headed, we lose the connection to ourselves, our environment and the enrichment of our lives.
The next time you’re stuck in traffic, fretting and fuming as the vehicles inch along, or you’re standing in an incredibly long line at the bank listening to parents attempt to placate their whining child, whom they lovingly call ‘incorrigible’ and the rest of the people in the bank would term ‘monstrous,’ take just a moment (you have a moment, you’re not doing anything) to check your pulse. Is it racing? Are your muscles tight? Is your jaw clenched? Are the thoughts running thorough your head filled with words your mother never taught you?