The power of "doing nothing"

still January 2, 2009

Yesterday — chatting with Jeff — recognizing that sitting looking at the internet was acceptable for "doing nothing" — a basic human need, perhaps. Sitting checking email is almost on the same privacy / do-not-disturb level as sitting reading on the toilet. It's OK to ignore people and chores, or to practice selective hearing.

It has to be OK now — and this must be articulated, not unspoken — to sit and "do nothing"! To sit for ten minutes and read or write, or knit. DO NOTHING. OK to suddenly meditate for ten minutes with a door closed. Play music. Sit and write. Read poetry. There is nothing wrong with these activities and there is perchance infinitely more value in these things than in "being online."

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It was pretty much constant connection to the internet and cyberspace with no end in sight.

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I saw no other way to create the space and time in my life that I craved. Nothing else could go.