Art of doing nothing

Sitting at home on a working day was an unusual experience as I would barely plan my holidays without a ‘to-do’ list. Reading, study-material or writing would generally top my priority list followed by some house-cleaning or wardrobe arrangements in a descending order. My newborn daughter suddenly climbed up the top of the list for all valid reasons for a year. After a year, a stage gradually came where I could get back to my ‘to-do’ things minding her simultaneously. Yet, the last week it turned out to be an unusual holiday without such a list.
What stopped me from making the ‘to-do’ list was the potential that my little daughter developed to throw all plans out of gear. I had taken similar experiences on weekends. I would allocate some works to myself during the time she would fall asleep and she would never sleep or get up earlier than expected. Oh, my ‘bitter’ memories of baby scattering all the unclear stuff and adding to my agonies were fresh. Hence last weekend, my ‘to-do’ list comprised only one thing-doing nothing.
I never expected doing nothing could be such a great learning. It was wonderful. I was more at peace. The home looked bigger and cleaner. I could dedicate more time to daughter with no strings attached. Even when she was asleep, I literally spent a few hours long afternoon staring at the ceiling fan.
I was just wondering how much I was really haunted by the idea of making every minute count. It was my insistence to make the most of my time and holiday all these years. Wasting time would give a guilty feeling to the death. I was barely in a position to tell myself ‘I did nothing today’. Even impressed by some ideas of ‘me’ time, I would spend long hours in sleep, walking or sipping a cup of coffee in windy evenings or breezy mornings. After doing nothing, I understood, that so-called me time was too wasn’t really cool enough as I was still doing something.
Sometimes, we tend to entangle ourselves with time-management theories and trap ourselves into too many activities. Some quiet moments of doing nothing tell you that busy years really didn’t really mean anything. Of course, there is other category of people who literally waste time or are idle. Not wanting to do anything is a personal choice. However, when we pretend all the time to be busy or make excuses of not finding time, something is seriously wrong with busyness.
It goes without saying that the importance of doing nothing could only be understood when we know futility of actions. If life is momentary, what’s the point in becoming the man of the moment? Well doing so, I don’t claim to have acquired the art of living! But yes, to an extent, I have learnt the art of doing nothing and more importantly, now I know, there is more to nothingness than what’s perceived to be. 
-KanChan   
            

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