The Sweetness of Doing Nothing
Published on August 12, 2014
I quite love the classroom of the world. We never get to know where the next lesson will come from or when. We humans seem to live great conflicted lives during great conflicted times. "What is the prize? What is this all about? What is the meaning of my life? Am I doing all I can to become all I am deserving of"? The last has become my life's work. To take what I have learned over all these years and use it to help others tap into their true potential. This whole process of personal growth however can at times leave us feeling like we are dancing on a pin. "Where is the balance? How much should I have? Can I have time for them and for me?" The answer is "of course" but the journey to get there can be precarious. Given that we live and work in this western civilization it can be difficult to break away from the dictates of society and walk our own path. A great lesson came from watching the movie "Eat, Pray, Love" with my wife. It was an interesting story of self-discovery. The one part of the movie that caught my eye was when the character was in Italy. After meeting a number of new friends she was introduced to the Italian phrase "dolce far niente" which translates as"the sweetness of doing nothing." For most of us living here this can be a totally foreign concept! Most of us have no idea when we last enjoyed the pleasure of doing absolutely nothing. We are pushed and pulled, driven and guilt-ed into constantly doing"something". The concept of doing "nothing" appears to us on the surface as a waste of time. A waste of life. Quite the contrary, this is a skill that we need in spades on this side of the world. When was the last time you stayed in your sweats all day long? When was the last time you just sat on your front porch and watched the world march by? When was the last time you set aside a few hours or an entire day to just do nothing? To just be with yourself and reward yourself or your family or friends with time? Wonderful, delicious, meaningless time. I am all about getting up early and knocking on all the doors in life that hold treasure for us but I now subscribe to one brand new, essential edict of life; "dolce far niente",,, "the sweetness of doing nothing." Have an excellent day. Be well, Randy Taylor