The Power of Doing Nothing
“Don’t just sit there, do something.”
We’ve all heard that popular admonition that sums up our culture so well. Don’t get caught at work sitting in your chair staring into space, or worse, with your eyes closed. We’re an action-based culture that regards “working hard” as a badge of honor.
Yet, “working hard” is taking its toll on too many people who are suffering from stress, anxiety, anger, depression, burnout, and a host of other maladies. They’re sacrificing themselves on the altar of Capitalism and someone else’s dream.
Maybe we should reverse that admonition and say “Don’t just do something, sit there.” There’s too much mindless activity going on in our world. Look at our city streets. It’s like an anthill of frenetic activity mostly directed at getting money out of other people’s pockets into our own. Most of that activity is legal. Some not so much.
Let’s try just “sitting there” for maybe 5-10 minutes and let those thoughts that show up like uninvited guests at our door pass through our mind like a parade. As you sit there, you will experience your mind settling like a snow globe. The chaos in your mind will calm down and, like the snow globe, you will see clearly. More importantly, you will hear clearly what the universe, God, or whatever you call it is trying to tell you. You will hear things that you can’t hear with all the noise of daily life going on in your head.
You will recognize this as meditation, and some of you will reject it based on your religion because it originated in another culture or another religion. But, it has become very much a part of our culture now and is being adopted by many high-pressure corporations.
Others will say, “Oh, I tried that. I can’t do it. My mind kept wandering.” That’s the point! It’s an exercise in managing that wild and unruly place in your mind that is causing too much stress in your life. Saying you can’t meditate because your mind wanders is like saying you can’t go to the gym because you have to exercise.
If I told you that you could go to the gym every day for 5 minutes and do nothing and become physically fit, you would probably beat a path to the gym.
I’m telling you that you can invest 5 minutes a day doing nothing but focusing on your breath and become mentally, emotionally, and spiritually fit.