The importance of nothingness

Stop.
For the next few moments, do not do a thing.
Feels pretty good, huh?
For some months now, I’ve made the conscious effort to build time into my life to do absolutely nothing. It’s one of my 43 Things.
Because I still cling to a bit of life that was governed by regulations and standards (completely self-imposed), I set a time limit and decided that in these moments, I could do some serious nothing.
No thoughts.
No dreams.
No decisions.
No emotions.
For 15 minutes.
Fuck that.
Building time in my life to do absolutely nothing means just that.
It’s where I do some of my best day-dreaming.
It’s where I relax.
And do nothing. I let my brain off its leash and let it wander.
For as long as I need.
A lot of the time, I sit in my plastic Adirondack chair in the front yard with a Nalgene bottle full of water and watch the world go by. I watch the sun stream through the clouds over Shasta Bally; I catch a sunset or three.
The other night, I invited all the animals to join me in bed as I just lay there in the dark (the strains of punk music bouncing off the walls).
After some time (I never look at the clock now – and I used to have a serious time fetish) I started to laugh.
I was so relaxed, I nearly fell into a deep sleep.
The world moves too fast for most everyone; if you don’t do something just for yourself, who will?
Be an advocate for you.
Build time into your life to do nothing.
You’ll thank yourself for the gift.

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