Last Saturday was one of the most wonderful weekend days for me. You want to know why? Because I did nothing!
Nothing? Yeah, nothing..... nothing at all. And sometimes, believe me, it's not easy to do nothing.
To start the day, I got up late and still had the luxury of slipping in a few more winks. There was nothing planned for the day. There were no meetings scheduled, no deadlines to meet and no social events. It was a clear, sunny fall day with a cool, crisp breeze. It was one of those days when it's a little chilly in the shade and just perfect in the sun. So I stepped out gingerly on the patio and plopped myself in one of the lounge chairs. The warm sun enveloped me in its embrace and made me cozy.
After a while I joined my son and his friends for a quick backyard basketball game. When I got exhausted (which didn't take long!) I made a beeline for my lounge chair again. Then I cajoled the love of my life (my wife) to sit by me and then it was heaven.... both of us soaking up the sun, watching kids play, talking about "stuff", listening to the soothing sound of our landscaped backyard waterfall, and more importantly -- doing nothing in particular.
I didn't want our morning to end. I would have wanted it to go on endlessly, but as is true in life, all good things do come to an end. But I felt so good, so happy and complete that day. So that set me thinking........
Maybe we should do more of "nothing" off and on. It might not be easy, but believe me, its worth a try. We all need and should have friends for a variety of reasons. We enjoy good company that we relate to, we need our egos boosted off and on, we need somebody to laugh at our jokes, to share our joys with, to lean on in hard times, to get advice when we are not thinking straight...... friends do all this for us and much much more that we sometimes don't see and realize. We are after all, social animals.
But occasionally, once in many many moons, try doing "nothing". Its just you, your wife/husband/significant other, your children and the tranquility of knowing that you are surrounded by people you love the most and vice-versa.
I had a blast doing "nothing", and I wish you would try the same sometime. Its not going to be easy, but give it a shot. (I never realized it, but in the fast paced world we live in, its quite difficult to consciously do "nothing"!)
You just might surprise yourself. I know I did.
-
