Why is it Important to Learn The Art of Doing Nothing?

Why It is Important to Pause for a While and Enjoy the Bliss of Doing Nothing?

Wherever you look, people are busy. They are always in a rush—some people don’t sit to have a coffee because the clock is ticking, or so they say.

Some complain that they don’t have enough time for their work, for their family, and for their own health.

Did you know that half of the working-class population in India feels stressed, according to a survey by LinkedIn?

That’s pretty alarming, considering the state we are in now.

So, let’s stop for a while and ask ourselves, why the rush? And why don’t we take some time off and, say, master the art of doing nothing?

Is doing nothing important?

Yes, it is. Our mind and body work 24×7. And on top of that, we exert our body and mind to work even when we don’t really enjoy it, too.

In our rushed lives of working, doing chores, and filling the in-betweens with the never-ending feeds on social media, have we ever tried to sit for a while, doing nothing? No.

And people always say don’t be lazy, learn something, or read that book. So when you actually relax, it is a dreaded feeling. And pretty uncomfortable to both our minds and body.

This begs the question, should we do nothing? To find out the answer, read on.

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Doing nothing is productive

Yes, you read that right! And everyone thought that working all day every day was. That cannot be farther from the truth.

Let us explain.

Have you ever tried to work without sleep or with very little sleep at night? How was your productivity the next day at the office? High, low, okay-ish?

Pretty bad, right? That’s exactly what we are talking about. When you exert your body and mind too much, it shuts off, and productivity goes down.

And relaxation or doing nothing for a while is often relegated as wasting our life or irresponsible.

But what is good for you—taking some time off to be better or keeping on working with less productivity?

You decide.

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Work has almost become like an obsessive-compulsive disorder

We like to call it—obsessive-compulsive work disorder. Yes, for many, working has become a disorder. Everyone is talking about side gigs, hustles, and multiple income streams.

While earning a few extra bucks is welcome, it must not be at the cost of your life. Work is a part of your life and not the purpose of it.

Your purpose is to be happy, to love, and to grow. If your work is jeopardizing your plans to be with what makes you really happy and content, you need to evaluate your priorities.

Take a step back from your compulsion to keep working. Relax and do nothing to enjoy everything else that life has to offer.

There is a concept in Italy, dolce far niente, which literally means the ‘sweetness of doing nothing.’

To set it right, doing nothing does not mean being lazy. It says that one needs to enjoy the happiness or blissfulness of relaxing.

And that’s going to change you.

It helps your physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing

Everyone thinks that doing nothing or relaxing is counterproductive. And believing in this deprives your body of the time and space it needs to repair and rejuvenate.

Your time spent in solitude, enjoying the moments of relaxation, is like putting your body in recharging mode. Your body is like a battery.

It needs to be recharged in a while to keep it going. And relaxing is one of the best things to do it.

It will help you lead a better life.

Doing nothing helps you turn off all distractions. It allows space for your subconscious to expand which can help you boost your creativity.

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If you are struggling to answer questions that you have been thinking about for a long time or a problem that you have been trying to solve, sometimes doing nothing for maybe a few hours or even days can help you. Because when we are distracted our mind goes to the most obvious answer to a problem but once you take the time to exhaust those thoughts, you end up thinking of innovative or breakthrough answers.

Doing nothing and being alone makes us long for a larger purpose in life. It helps you expand your thoughts and prompts you to try challenging and meaningful activities that extend beyond your own lives.

Your mind is liberated from all its cognitive duties. There’s been extensive research on how daydreaming and mind-wandering—the inevitable effects of idleness—make us more creative, better problem-solvers, and more imaginative with new ideas writes Omar Irani.

As this study from INSEAD highlights:
“Doing nothing is a great way to induce states of mind that nurture our imagination. Slacking off may be the best thing we can do for our mental health. Seemingly inactive states of mind can be an incubation period for future bursts of creativity.”

Everything that we do culminates at one single point—our desire to live a better life. In our efforts to do so, we pay little attention to the small things that we take for granted in our life, despite them having a strong influence on how well we live.

For some, there is nothing scarier than doing nothing. They always want to be busy. Not because they have to but because they are conditioned to believe that.

Taking a little me-time can help you reflect on your life, profession, goals, and everything you do in your pursuit of happiness, growth, and purpose.

Relaxation has that magic effect to give you a feeling of blissfulness you have never known.

Summing up the thoughts…

In today’s busy world, many dread the idea of doing nothing. If only you knew it is rejuvenating and recharging your body and mind. What’s more interesting is how you must maintain a balance between everything you need to do and exercising the art of doing nothing.

Like everything else you see around us, your body and mind need a little me-time, too. So that it can improve its efficiency.

So, go ahead and get comfy and do nothing!