Do Nothing

"I like that too," said Christopher Robin, "but what I like doing best is Nothing."

"How do you do Nothing?" asked Pooh, after he had wondered for a long time.

"Well, it's what people call out at you just as you're going off to do it, What are you going to do, Christopher Robin, and you say, Oh, Nothing, and then you go and do it."

"Oh, I see," said Pooh.

"This is a nothing sort of thing that we're doing now."

"Oh, I see," said Pooh again.

"It means just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering."

~A.A. Milne, "The House at Pooh Corner"

Doing Nothing..... that is something that we, in our era of constant connectivity and bombardment of media, find it almost impossible to do. We're always doing something..... working on something, fixing something, watching something, reading something, communicating something, going to something..... and what we don't realize or appreciate that there is value and purpose in doing Nothing.

I'm not talking about sitting around and vegging out in front of your TV for hours on end.  Even the act of sitting in front of the television or computer, clicking from channel to channel and site to site is doing something.... the mind is working, overtime.  I'm talking about doing nothing in the philosophical sense.

In one sense of the concept, I'm talking about the value of meditative thought.  Think about the last time you were waiting somewhere.... in line, in traffic, for the bus/train..... what were you doing?  If you're like me, you were probably head down in your Blackberry or iPhone on Twitter (guilty) or Facebook or e-mail or chat. Or worse, you get angry at the fact that you have to wait. When was the last time you stopped to observe your surroundings..... the beauty of the trees, the sky, the architecture?  The sounds all around you? The feeling of the breeze blowing on your face?  All the manifestations of The Most High's work? And then just sat and thought about nothing but what you are observing in the immediate here and now? Just stopping to do nothing during these times....or just any time you are feeling overwhelmed....can greatly reduce your anxiety levels and help you focus on what is really important.

In the second sense of the concept, I'm talking about doing Nothing as a means of problem solving or conflict resolution.  So often (and again I am very guilty of this) we feel the need to constantly analyze and fix, with some people being more focused on one of those processes over another.  We can get ourselves into "analysis paralysis" where we are stuck in a never ending cycle of thought that essentially gets us nowhere, or we rush in haste to fix or do and end up taking premature action with adverse consequences.  Often times the best thing to do in times of conflict or personal challenge is just to do Nothing.  Again, I'm not talking about complete inaction or inattention.  I'm talking about ceasing the fight against the current by flailing about, exhausting yourself and getting nowhere, either in thought or in action. In other cliche words, you just have to let nature take its course. A Zen proverb that I particularly like is “Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself", meaning that no matter what you do or don't do, life will still go on and will occur just as it is designed and intended to. Trying to force the grass to grow faster or spring to come earlier is an utterly pointless waste of energy.

A Zen concept that I particularly like is the wild monkey mind. Your wild monkey mind jumps from thought to thought like a monkey jumps from tree to tree, throwing bananas, and generally acting unruly. The monkey mind is not content with existing in the present moment, but rather engages in the clutter of endless and aggravating alternative thoughts.  Even when we are "doing nothing" and sitting still, our minds may be a whirlwind of activity that distracts us from life. Our goal should be to tame the wild monkey mind so that we can focus on what is important in the present moment and clearly see the significant aspects of our lives.

One of my favorite books (and probably one that had the biggest impact on how I think about life) is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.  The main premise of the book is that the Universe conspires to help us achieve our personal destiny. Along with that principle, another that I subscribe to is that everything works out the way it is supposed to.  Notice that I didn't say the way we WANT it to, because many times in the short term we don't know what we want or what's really our ultimate destination (remember, "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it."). When we rush about trying to fix and analyze, we can miss the signs pointing us in the direction we ought to be going, including the signs that come from within. Instinct is a powerful thing, loved ones, but instinct must also be combined with patience so that we can see the big picture being painted in our lives.

So how do we go about doing Nothing (because it's not as easy as Christopher Robin says) and tame our wild money mind in the process? You can start with simple meditation.  I highly recommend guided meditation, which is kind of meditation with training wheels (try Guided Meditations on Zencast.org). You simply listen to the audio and do what it says. Try it now:




Another thing I do (when weather permits) is to go to a park or gardens and just sit.... I focus on the sound of the water and the leaves rustling in the trees, watching how the water flows over the rocks and the appearance of the leaves, the feel of the breeze caressing my cheeks....everything immediately around me except the turmoil going on in my own head (I'm going to have to write another post about child-like wonder).  Afterwards I usually find the answer to my problem sitting right in front of me in my mind, as if I cleared away the heap of junk all around it and there it is. Of course I am a logical and analytical person by nature, but when things are really overwhelming and I feel stuck, meditation usually works for me. It takes that monkey and shoots a tranquilizer dart in its neck puts it in its cage.  Eventually you get to the point where you can do this regularly....be able to stop yourself, take a few deep breaths and just listen to what the Universe is telling you.

So put away your pros and cons checklist, stop weighing options, cease the knee jerk reactions, quit the ruminations..... and just do Nothing.