Day 12: Do Nothing

 

Sometimes the most important thing we can do is nothing.

Jenny Odell's book called How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy describes a world where “every last minute” ends up “captured, optimized, or appropriated as a financial resource by the technologies we use daily.” But in the midst of push notifications and likes and friend requests, a “certain nervous feeling, of being overstimulated and unable to sustain a train of thought, lingers.”

A meditation practice corrects and soothes our overstimulated mind and helps us focus. Who would have thought we'd need instructions for doing nothing!

When we start a meditation practice, it can feel like we are doing nothing. We are lured by the demand to be productive and it's tempting to start inserting rituals, goals, journaling, and assorted other activities. Fight the urge! How does it feel to do nothing? Not only can we survive 20 minutes of not checking our messages, but we will thrive. At first, withdrawal from that dopamine hit of getting notifications might make us feel uncomfortable, agitated, and wiggly. Breathe. Keep going! The more we practice, the better and easier it will get and the peace will ripple out into all aspects of life. I guarantee it. Pinky swear!

Let's turn off our notifications, sit and do nothing but breathe for 20 minutes. That nothing is really something! Keep going!