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Monologue Series – The Art of Doing Nothing
Do you feel guilty when you just sit there, stealing a little time for yourself?
I don’t, but my wife beats herself up something shocking if she wastes even a single minute of our
permanently busy lives. The household to-do-list is now so long that to waste a productive moment
borders on sacrilege.
Sometime during the last century, certainly after the lazy-hazy days of the 1960’s and 70’s, our
madcap world began to frown on people, simply “doing nothing”. Now it seems that our every
waking moment must be jam packed full with a heady mix of work, study, sport or spending. Even
sleep has been rationed, as we live our lives on a diet of instant coffee and instant gratification.
We have created a globally-interconnected world of bright lights and activity - 24/7. We are now
connected via technology undreamt of a decade ago, so that we can “do business” on the move –
playing telephone tag, and making just one more sales call on the way home. The spare moment is a
thing of the past. We have created the conditions where people now feel guilty, if they just sit back
and rest.
Daydreaming at school is punishable by detentions, greater homework or other childhood tortures.
Having a chin wag in the tearoom is viewed as a major offence by efficiency minded management,
and pity the bloke who just wants to potter about in the back shed.
Our definition of “doing nothing” is curiously precise – sitting in a chic café drinking a latté with
ones friends is fine but taking time out to sniff the roses, is being a slacker.
Playing golf with a client is “networking” but you have to hide out in the toilet if you want to read a
novel.
When did procrastination become a swear word and looking out the window, punishable by death or
at least instant dismissal?
For what it’s worth, here’s my theory: our modern economic-rationalized world rejects any activity,
or inactivity, which doesn’t engage us in either: consuming a product or service, or producing and
delivering the same. To be blunt, if we are not making, selling or buying, then we’re just not doing
our duty to the Gods of the Economy – we have been caught out, “doing nothing”.
Australian Demographer Bernard Salt recently made the observation, “that society has no use for
teenagers”, except in their role as cashed-up consumers. The same is true, at least in Western
societies, of our elders. True, until we pushed further back the retirement age.
We have developed into a desperate culture of over achievement & hyper-activity. We just have to
make things happen, even if that “happening” is totally meaningless. We have perfected the “art of
looking busy”, when we should be practicing the “art of doing nothing”i. We do too much, but live
life too little.
The Art of Doing Nothing – © 2008 :
Adaptive Learning PTY LTD
(03) 9457 2215
www.adaptivelearning.com.au
Now is the time to recover our ability and our right to do nothing and not feel guilty about it! In fact
it’s essential to our physical health and our mental well being.
Bertrand Russell once said, “The time you enjoy doing nothing is not wasted time”, to which I
would add the caveat “as long as it is actively doing nothing” – as long as you have chosen to spend
your time this way and not just been sucked into vegging out in front of the TV, or playing solitaire
on the computer.
So having given yourself permission to relax – sit comfortably in a safe space, free of distractions
and enjoy some nothingness. Turn off all communication devices – the computer, palm pilot,
mobile phone, radio and TV. Leave your landline off the hook - the world can wait. Put a “Do Not
Disturb Come Hell or High Water” sign on the door. Stop the clock and take 5 to 10 minutes out of
an otherwise stressful life. Warning: Don’t try to do too much nothing, at the first attempt.
What now? Let’s check out on the Buddhists - they have good ideas now and Zenii. They suggest
starting off by closing your eyes and just listening to your own breathing – evenly, in and out –
exhale, unwind. Track where each breath goes. Meditate if you know how, learn if you don’t. Stay
in the moment. Slowly, don’t rush it. Keep the space open. Celebrate guilt-free idleness. Cultivate a
sense of serenity and enter a world where simply being is more fulfilling than doing.
Once you have mastered the art of doing nothing, you can do nothing anywhere. I do my “doing
nothing” in the park, by letting nature come to me, flow through me and by being forever
dumbstruck by the awesome beauty of the Universe and the infinite diversity of life.
If we, that is humanity, are to survive, doing nothing is essential. We need to de-stress, chill out and
let our minds wander and drift – if only for five minutes every day.
So don’t just do something! Sit there!
This monologue was originally written for the ABC Soundbank program “Minds At Work – Speaking Our
Minds”. It was syndicated and broadcast over the ABC Radio Network (Australasia) during May, 2008.
The author can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected]
(03) 9457 2215 or Mobile +61 (0) 439 902 215
© 2008 Minds At Work & Ian Metcalfe.
i
There is a book by this title: Veronique Vienne & Erica Lennard, “The Art of Doing Nothing: Simple Ways to Make
Time for Yourself”, (1998)
ii
Ouch! ☺
The Art of Doing Nothing – © 2008 :
Adaptive Learning PTY LTD
(03) 9457 2215
www.adaptivelearning.com.au