Many of us have been told that to do nothing is a waste of time.
It’s a narrative that probably started in childhood when we were avoiding doing chores because we wanted more time to play and make believe; constantly being told to get our heads out of the clouds and ‘focus’ on what’s in front of us.
As well meaning as the adults likely have been in our lives, what if they’ve been wrong? What if they’ve been unconsciously telling us to be on edge? To keep looking for the next thing because there’s always something to be done?
You’ve likely heard about how our nervous systems are constantly dysregulated. Well they didn’t get there suddenly overnight. They got this way after years and years of conditioning.
Now, many of us are adults that, believe it or not, don’t even know how to breathe properly most days. I know this to be true based on the sheer amount of people I’ve had to re-teach how to breathe.
Early on, when I was only training people, I was often teaching people how to re-wire the way they walk (yes there’s a good chance you’re doing that wrong too but that’s a blog post for a different day).
Now, as someone who is moving toward doing more work in mental health, it’s breath.
Teaching people how to breathe is important because without that key detail, the body won’t ever be properly nourished.
That’s why it’s one of the things I often task people with doing – taking 10-minutes to do heart math breathing or diaphragmatic breathing, because with carving out only ‘10-minutes a day’ it’s possible to slowly start to regulate the nervous system.
But, it takes intention. It takes effort.
When you’ve been going and doing for so long and it turns out the answer is as simple as ‘stop’ – that can also be very scary and intimidating. “What do you mean just stop?”
I mean it exactly as I say it; simply stop doing to be doing; stop doing things to get things done.
Be intentional with 10-minutes a day to sing along to some of your favorite songs, 10-minutes to dance, 10-minutes to pick up a piece of fiction or read a short story or write a love letter, 10-minutes of day dreaming.
With just 10 minutes you’re telling your body and mind that it’s safe; something we all so deeply need now more than ever.
If you’ve never felt safe in your body it will be hard to get to this space of doing nothing with ease, and that’s precisely why I call it an art.
If you’ve ever made something (or if you haven’t out of fear it will be ‘bad’ then I’m talking especially to you) then you already know making any art is messy. But when you get there, you know it, and it’s a feeling that can’t be taken away from you.
So with that I bid you a very raw and healing ‘do nothing’ time.
