Can you do nothing? Ok, before any of you roll your eyes, let me ask you, do you know how to just be, to sit, to breathe, to be one in that single moment given to us? It is not easy to do nothing, and yet it is possible. I’ll show you how.
In one of his performances entitled “A Tale of Two Brains” Mark Gungor, a motivational speaker, marriage counselor, stand-up comedian, made an interesting observation on the difference between the male and female brains and how they differ from each other. Mark jokingly says the male brain is made up of a lot of small boxes.
Boxes for money, for a favorite car, for work, for children. Man has boxes for everything. However, we men, unlike women, have that one special box that women often don’t know much about, but often that fact drives them crazy. Hey, it’s not our fault, it is just our nature. There is nothing in that special box and we men often call it the NOTHING box.
Of all the boxes a man has in his brain, the NOTHING box is the most important. These are moments when we can relax and do absolutely nothing for several minutes.
And you wonder what Mark said about the female brain? Well, my girlfriend is currently here next to me as I write this article, so maybe you better watch that video for yourself and get a better look at the female brain.
This is a good overture to what I want to tell you. We are witnessing that we live in an era of information and technology. We live in an age of notifications and scrolling on various social networks. We spend hours and hours in front of screens of various dimensions. Have you noticed that everything has accelerated a lot. Multitasking on all sides, both at work and home. Do this, do that, and it’s like we’re just jumping from one obligation to another without having enough time for ourselves. And so we are caught in a loop of obligations in which, as if we are constantly busy, it seems that day by day we have less and less energy for ourselves and for those we love.
Somehow we made everything urgent and important to us. We rush and chase everywhere. At the end of the day, all this affects our psychophysical condition and often raises stress to the level of alarms and red lights, which in the business world can often be called burnout.
So how do you break this algorithm, and become more relaxed? How do you bring yourself into that state of doing nothing I’m talking about?
Here are 3 suggestions that can help you with that:
- BE LIKE A GOOD BULL FERDINAND
The story of the bull Ferdinand can serve as an instructive metaphor that in addition to the fact that society imposes on us to be something that is expected of us, we can choose who we want to be. To have a big heart and give ourselves, above all, the freedom to be what we are. Let’s stop and ask that we don’t have to meet all other people’s expectations from us, but like Ferdinand with a big heart, choose your peace and make a decision and miss the crowds, many events and just feel the moments when you are not obliged to do something to yourself you give a permit to smell a floral field rose. Slow down instead of hurrying. Instead of doing tasks, sometimes it is necessary to be a friend to yourself first and to be ok with that.
- CALMNESS IS YOUR ESSENTIAL NATURE.
Then when we lose touch with inner peace, we also lose touch with ourselves. Eckhart Tolle in his book “Silence Speaks” mentions that we are consciousness disguised as a person. To be masters at doing nothing, we need to become aware of it. We need to stay calm.
Find those moments of silence. The equivalent of outer silence is inner silence. We need to pay attention to that silence.
We can practice that. Doing nothing also means silencing yourself. Find gaps and breaks in time and space. For example, notice a blank white space between the words in this text. That whiteness is what can help you to be calmer in your mind and more present in this moment, and to strengthen your moments of leisure. During a conversation, when you say sentences, notice the pauses between the two words spoken and become aware of it. It will help you become more aware and calmer and thus more present in the moment.
- SHUT UP YOUR EGO AND STOP COMPETITION WITH YOURSELF AND OTHERS. 3,2,1 LET GO.
To be without a goal, without tasks, without results. Not to be right all the time. I like Bukowski’s thought: “Wherever the masses go, go in the opposite direction.” This often gives the feeling that sometimes you need to reconsider a decision, that you need to choose your way, and sometimes that means doing nothing. Life is not a competition. And we will not get anywhere if we constantly compare our lives with others. Let’s allow ourselves those episodes of freedom. During the day, enjoy the moments of missing out. To know what is in the domain of our control and what does not concern us at all. This is what will help us enjoy moments of doing nothing. It will help us even if we make decisions quickly and easily without exception and remorse. Like water droplets. 3,2,1 let go. Don’t think.
It is a well-known fact that scientists have measured that the average person passes through 6,000 thoughts a day and that these are mostly the same thoughts that he transmitted from the previous days. The question arises as to how much modern man will be able to withstand the pressure of the noise of information and technology that are increasingly pushing man towards the category of not free but a slave of his thoughts, guided by the invisible hand of the Internet and technology. It is true that under the influence of the fast pace of life, the number of depressed people around the world is growing. And that is becoming an increasingly dangerous and growing problem.
However, it is good to know that we have the power to consciously influence that. We can choose to become more self-aware and choose the path to ourselves. To choose when to say NO and ENOUGH!
To consciously do nothing and stop the rush of thought. To learn to control our thoughts and to enjoy the process of doing nothing without the need to leave an impression or imprint, without the overwhelming need to be seen, but with the desire to get to know ourselves better.
Practice becoming a black belt master of doing nothing. It’s definitely worth the effort.
Written by
Marko Petrović