Sacred Idleness

The final blog introducing major shifts of perception is one where we dismantled the belief that doing, doing, doing is the best way to get things done.

Have you ever noticed how busy we all are? If you look down on Earth from space, we look like ants on an anthill, busily going from here to there and back again. If you look closely, you will see something very astounding – we hardly just rest. Oh yes, we do sleep, but oftentimes our sleep is disturbed because we rev up our minds and bodies all day long through our addiction to doing.

Much of our doing is necessary and productive but to live our lives only in the doing mode causes us to live on the surface of life, rarely being quiet enough to sink below and recognize how our lives are an amazing venture with such miraculous beauty everywhere. When we cultivate stillness, we begin to be able to see the intelligence of life weaving itself throughout our days, helping us to recognize we’re not alone and that we are loved more than we can possibly know.

All our busyness cuts us off from what we most deeply long for – an intimate, nourishing, and trust-filled connection with life exactly as it is. And it stops us from asking some of the most important questions a human being can ask like, “Who am I? What do I most deeply long for? How can I serve? Am I a valuable human being just as I am?”

So rather than automatically filling your quiet moments with distractions, whether it’s waiting for a doctor and endlessly scrolling through your phone; going to sleep with the TV on; or writing impossibly long to-do lists, discover how to pause in the middle of your life. There are all sorts of moments that life is saying just rest here whether it’s waiting for a stoplight, standing in line at the post office, or watching your child’s baseball game. In those moments life is saying, “Pssst! Let go of all your doing and just rest in this living moment of your life.”

What I am inviting you into is the art of cultivating moments of simply being. Rather than going directly from one project to another, pause, close your eyes, and simply hear the music of your life or go outside and look at the sky or allow some long slow out-breaths during commercials that come with your favorite show. As Thich Nhat Hanh, the beloved Buddhist monk, once said, “Rather than saying ‘Don’t just sit there. Do something.’ Say, ‘Rather than doing something, sit here!”

It is also helpful to set aside time every day to pull your attention out of your ever-becoming mind and simply rest it right here. To give yourself the gift of just five minutes a day where you close your eyes, notice when your attention is caught in your thoughts, and simply bring it right back here to your breath, or sounds or the sensations in your body, will dramatically transform your life.

Does your mind say that taking special time just for you is selfish, or it is lazy? Nothing could be further from the truth. As George MacDonald once said, “There is such a thing as sacred idleness.”

Some of the most important moments of your life happen when you are by yourself and rather than being lost in thoughts in your head, you bring your attention back to life.

Maybe one of the most important things we can do in this time of chaos is to add moments of stillness throughout our day so we can partner with the intelligence at the heart of life and respond to whatever life brings us with the wisdom of our hearts.