THE JOY OF DOING NOTHING
Do you ever notice when you have a bunch of free time on your calendar, you fill it up with things to kill time. We tell ourselves it’s OK to do nothing and that we deserve some downtime, but we really don’t believe it. As we fill up the empty time with busyness, you feel wound up and not recharged.
Recently I spent a week at Deer Park Monastery, a Zen Buddhist practice community founded by the Late Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. One of my richest practices during the retreat was the practice of doing nothing. Every day there was a schedule of activities on the bulletin board in the dining hall. Except one morning I woke up and went down to my usual 5:45AM morning meditation, except no one except 3 people were there. What did I miss, where is everyone? Did I oversleep? After deciding with total intention and joy to meditate in the great meditation hall, I walked up to the dining hall and to my surprise, today was “Lazy Day.” One of the monks explained to me that “Lazy Day” was your opportunity to do whatever you decide to do or not do for the entire day. Explore what doing nothing and being lazy means to you.
After a stretch of anxiety from not have structure in my day, I sat quietly and asked myself what I would like to do in that moment. I decided to take a walk into the hills of the monastery campus, which stretches over 400 acres. I had nowhere I had to be the whole day and I began to meander, gently, intentionally, and without a care in the world. The walk was my gift to myself, a journey into the unknown. A wave of joy swept over me, and I began to walk. During my walk that day, I encountered other visitors, having extraordinary conversations because I just allowed myself to be there, without an agenda, nowhere to be. Eventually I ended up in a hammock later after the walk to rest. And what a nap it was! Listening to the sounds that surrounded me and drifting off. Then in the evening, I had the honor and pleasure of sharing my joyous day of doing nothing with the Abbot of the monastery along with a group of monks, aspirants, and visitors. It was appropriately named a Happiness Meeting. For one of the rare moments in my life, I was content in not accomplishing anything that day other than enjoying the moments of smelling the air, flowers, listening to the sounds, and conversing about life with my fellow travelers.
What I learned that day was so valuable and transformative, embracing laziness was an opportunity to experience joy, uninhibited joy. Yes I had many moments of thoughts that drew me away but then coming back into this moment and letting it unfold into whatever arose was such a gift. My challenge to you-try setting aside a few hours each week to do nothing, with no agenda. Sit and stare out onto Lake Michigan, have a conversation with a stranger for no reason other than you decide to, sit out on your porch, and luxuriate in the space of taking care of yourself and allowing joy to infuse your being. Please feel free to share your comments below.
