The Art of doing Nothing

Nothing is difficult to define and difficult to do.
Just think, right now you are reading this blog, perhaps you have several other windows open (if you love Gates) on which you are doing other stuff...the computer is a good way to kill 'doing nothing'. the TV is yet another one coz you have to watch it..you have to answer a phone, you have to check email when on a machine..its a whole lot of things we do on auto pilot..and so when it comes to doing nothing...nothing at all...sit in one place and breathe..a lot of us cant do that.

Think of the last time you sat and did nothing, no thinking, no worrying, just nothing....because we plan our free time too. The growing number of holiday agents who plan your vacation for you..for it to be perfect and good and relaxing is some proof for this. If you have to plan every second of your free time..I think life will be very sad! It is important to do some unplanned...nothing.

When asked what do you do in your spare time..we do sometimes have to stop and think when was the last time I had spare time. And I have also noticed that I use the phrase 'I just have not had the time...' a lot of times. I sometimes wished that there were more hours in a day..and sometimes I wished for superhuman energy levels...alas I don't! I don't.
So I do the normal human thing. Make a load of targets, try and achieve them, tire myself out in the process, never agree or accept I am tired..and then I turn into my irritable baby mode..... I am sleepy and tired..and grumpy..so I grizzle and I snap and I moan and if I dont watch it I can wail too!! I hate this baby mode..coz then I have to be told to sleep or sit down and then do, the worrying..'Nothing'

That is exactly what I did after a long time this weekend. I tend to have a to do list which is just about as tall as me...and I also tend to think that I am some sort of wonder woman and can do just about everything I want in a day and also not get tired.

Here is a piece of my list...wash some clothes, get some food, email some friends, wish my cousins wife on her birthday, call and ask about new baby in the family, talk to friend who has gone to India, talk to friend across the Atlantic, paint the canvas that I have had for 6 months now, pack some clothes away for the winter, get some summer stuff out, buy some essentials for the summer, clean my house, meet my neighbor to see when he moves house, call sister, call mum and see how she is doing, come to work and get some files, take print outs and file papers for an upcoming conference, look for a missing earring.....this is a piece of the list..yup!!

....so I keep going, keep going till I cant anymore..then collapse to sleep / unconscious for 14 hours!

This weekend, which in UK was a long weekend as Monday was off...I thought of giving 'Nothing' a shot. As luck would have it, I had some friends over who are excellent at doing nothing. So we sat and did just that. All three days..while people outside were heading for yet another mass exodus in search of the sun, we sat inside, talked, sat, talked, ate..sat...did nothing. Went nowhere, called no one, played nothing, watched nothing, read nothing..just ultimate relaxation...

I should do this more often. Put away my lists, not take any pressure to plan a weekend off..and do something nice..or interesting..nothing. Just be at home, relax, read, eat and sleep..be a caterpillar for a few days..just chill...the only effort to be made should be breathing..eat and sleep....
and then...perhaps come out a butterfly...NAAAH!!!!
even being ambitious is tiring coz then you have to plan...nah...couch potato...is good enough for me!