Doing Nothing Is Painful but Also Nice

Democritus in meditation by Salvator Rosa

Doing nothing even just for ten minutes is painful. I remember doing a lot of nothing as a kid. As an adult I rarely do this. If you want to try this go ahead. Sit down anywhere in your house. Set a timer for ten minutes. Then do nothing. Don’t read text messages on your phone or watch the clock go down. You can think obviously, and pet your cat if you have one. That’s it though.

I did this, and I sat on the couch and I put my cat on me. I just sat there. It was so boring even just for ten minutes. I thought about everything I wanted to do. It was a nice reprieve to just give myself permission to do nothing. I’d like to do this more often. Right now though, I have things I want to do. Then maybe I’ll pause and do nothing again. This reminded me that I can always take time to rest and relax. I don’t need to do anything in order to feel relaxed.