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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