People just ain't doing enough of Nothing!

Get up!

Do your routine. A carousel of habits. A spectacle of drudgery.

We are bouncing from one task to the next in this modern age of measurement and "busybodyness". Like hamsters or rats on a wheel, we are constantly occupying our vacant little minds with tasks and to do lists. We never really get a chance to breathe and smell the roses. We are always looking on how we could better trim the rose bush to our own liking.

We are molded to be productive in this society. We feel like we have to. Even outside of work. Like good worker bees and soldier ants. Its a linear race against time. Against others. Against the dread of an atmosphere that smell resembles what some might call Late Stage Capitalism. Impeding doom and anxiety rests slightly crouched right behind our very eyes.

To Achieve. To relieve. To Supersede.

All this focus around doing is making us mechanical and almost robotic in action. Where is the being? We can call ourselves human beings, but that would imply a heavy sway towards the second part of that very coupling of arbitrary words. Within that structure, one could call us Human Doings since we are so heavily focused and mindlessly driven to be more productive, successful, efficient and prolific in so many fractured parts of our lives. The cheese is the goal and we are the mice. The cheese keeps getting further and further and we keep running faster and faster. The more we chase, the farther we get from what we think we want. A soup of confusion.

We procrastinate. We binge watch shows. We waste time. We may even think we are good at wasting time or avoiding tasks. It's easier to have dishes stack up then to clean them when they are a mountain taunting you with its crusty greasiness.

We think we get bored, tired or exhausted. Then we say that we are somewhat good or at least proficient at simple doing "nothing". In reality it is an act of escaping. Its hardly nothing when we are actively trying to avoid the anxiety, stress, deadlines and goals in this rat race of a world. We are inventors of convenient distractions and clever ways to squirm out of responsibilities and obligations.

Really we are not doing nothing when we are procrastinating or just mindlessly consuming content. This can go the same for any of the mediation practices that some of might do. It's still an action. An action to achieve a particular habit pattern or state. With the repetition of activities such as washing the dishes and mediating, we create a routine that becomes mechanical even if we think we are remotely improving or getting "better" at something.

So what does it mean to actually do nothing? Well now that question can seem a little ridiculous on its surface, but can open up many doors of observation and perception. Doing nothing would require a the task of doing something. Nothing appears to be the absence of something. How can one conceivably do nothing if it is not the same as something?

Well, it depends on what you mean by nothing. This is true in that it is only a word and many people could have different images in their mind what nothing might mean to them. Overall, we can see ourselves doing nothing by maybe just sitting around the house or walking aimlessly inside or outside. What is happening within your mind when you are not doing a direct task at hand? There you go. That is the main thing to look at. Do you see?

What thoughts are running through your mind when you think you are doing nothing?

This is the key. Pay attention to those gaps. Those gaps between the thoughts. Remember when you were just "zoning" out? What were you exactly doing there? Your focus went a little blurry and there wasn't anything you were trying to do. You weren't immediately engaging or getting lost in the compulsory nature of thought. There was silence and stillness in that period of zoning out. And then Boom! You are zapped back into a state of unconsciousness and self driven seeking. For a brief moment there was no occupation of thought or trying to move to the next thing. That fallible act of trying to occupy the mind with more and more things to do and think about. Now you can see how its so easy for us to get worn out from this constant engaging and wrestling with the process of thought.

"There is no correct way to DO Nothing or There is a correct way to DO Nothing."

When you try to do nothing, are you actually doing nothing? It seems like that would just be you trying to achieve a task or a certain state. A means to an end. Doing nothing does not require effort. In fact, it is the antithesis of effort. So trying to do Nothing, is simply doing something.

You ever notice how things can naturally arise? You start to see more things. Let's say a horse. So a person mentions a horse and then you start to see more horse things. People start to talk about horses. You see more horse things. How funny is that? You are alert and more observant. This could be about something that you want. It draws you in. Like a magnet. It's a journey. A pull. Can you see what happens when you get out of your own way and surrender to present moment?

Maybe doing nothing cannot be so easily defined. To define is to limit. And the idea that nothing must be done a certain way or through a certain process is absurd and ironic. Doing nothing simply isn't an activity or a way to attain knowledge or wisdom in the world. What we do know is that there is always the present moment to access without effort. There is the alertness and stillness in the mind that allows one to lock into the present. The "how" in this equation is only a means of achieving something or escaping from the "is" of "what is". Nothing makes sense,but also does not make sense at the same time. Nothing is to be done about this. Nothing is a word and nothing is what it is, but once we try to define it, we lose it. And so on.

DG