I walked out of the kitchen yesterday after putting groceries away to find Magnus laying on the couch on his back staring up out the window. He had taken taken the cushion off and was laying on it with his feet over the back of the couch staring up into the trees outside.
“Whatcha doing luv?” I asked him.
“Nothin’. Just looking outside,” he replied.
I curled up beside him and we spent the next 20 minutes watching the trees dance and looking for squirrels and birds snuggling in silence. It was glorious.
Before I met my husband Dave, I didn’t have a TV for 8 years, smart phones didn’t exist, and the internet was not what it is now. I spent hours doing nothing, daydreaming, or falling asleep alongside my cats because it felt cozy.
The world has changed and so have we. Now, have two giant TV’s, and I have a phone that is an endless source of entertainment, distraction, and irritation. I also no longer have cats, they passed away shortly after Magnus came along (They were 17, it’s okay. They had a good long life!).
I am busier than ever, and the one thing I long for, and am working hard to come back to is: nothing.
More time doing less. More time to be bored. More time to lay in bed uninterrupted. More time to stare out the window with my 3 year old.
Do you remember how to do nothing?
Not going for a walk AND listening to podcasts.
Not sorting socks and listening to an audio book about about how to improve your life.
Not peeing while scrolling through your phone.
Nothing.
As women, we have been conditioned to multitask, and if you’re a mom, you can’t even avoid it. It’s part of the job.
The problem is that the more we divide our attention the harder it is to keep it focused. It becomes a habit to be distracted, and uncomfortable to be still.
This is one of the main reasons why women struggle so much with meditation our attention is ALWAYS divided.
And even when we have time to focus on just one thing, like emptying the dishwasher, we are often also thinking about when the sheets were last washed, what we need to pick up for supper, and the deadline at work.
We’ve forgotten how to do nothing.
And do you know what? It’s in doing nothing that we are most creative, inspired, and also at peace. It’s worth putting into your day because it also helps with focus, productivity (and we LOVE crossing off those To-Do Lists, don’t we?), and is a powerful tool for regulating emotions.
Start with 5 minutes. You can even set a timer on your phone…just resist the urge to scroll through it! 😉
Tell me below, do you take time to do nothing? If not, what’s holding you back from trying? Tell me all about it, I read every comment and truly love hearing from you!