Week 2: Keeping Busy, Getting Lost

“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Introduction:

We are also conditioned to stay busy, and always do something “useful”. Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate what we think is the correct way to spend our time. Maybe it’s time to try out a whole new paradigm for our lives and free ourselves from the need to “do” something.

I don’t want to say any more about this because I want you to come up with your own meanings. Look at my contemplation and the readings, especially “How To Do Nothing.”

Contemplation:

Some thoughts about this upcoming discussion and topic from me (Wendy):

My recommendation is that you pick a day this week and just write about what you’re doing. Try to take a sliver of time and do nothing. Don’t judge what your nothing is. Describe it (after you’ve finished doing it!).

October 15, 3:30 pm: I am sitting here doing nothing. Well, no, I guess I’m writing this. I was doing nothing, but just for a few minutes. It’s raining outside and I have a bit of a headache. I’ve done “stuff” today: got the place cleaned for guests coming later on. Painted a little (not very well), watched an online lesson from “Introduction to Classical Music,” meditated…dozed a little. Doing nothing for real is still not entirely attainable. Something keeps happening. The news, with it’s increasingly alarming headlines, is beckoning. There are books to read, people to respond to, a whole spiral of things to do if I put my mind to it. Do I really want to do nothing, or do I just think I do?

You may notice that I didn’t really describe the “nothing” part. I couldn’t figure out how. It was like trying to describe the empty space in a room. It holds everything, but is itself shapeless and amorphous.