Five Reasons Why We Should All Learn To Do "nothing"

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

The idea that “doing nothing” is a skill to be learned can be puzzling at first. No fools, the only question is to stop doing anything? But it's easy to say - not easy to do. It has long been known - since the days of Buddha - that "action" can be an irresistible desire, addiction, addiction, addiction, which we do not recognize as such just because society encourages us for it. In fact, learning to “do nothing” may be the most vital habit for thriving in our violent, manic, always-on-hook culture. Here are five key reasons for this:

1. "Doing nothing" does not really mean doing nothing

If you are not dead, you are always busy with something - even if you just savor the pleasures of idleness (Psychologists say that such enjoyment of the moment is far from passivity: in fact, you can even learn this, for example, by focusing on each type of feeling (vision, hearing, smelling) in turn). But what is usually meant by "doing nothing" is not doing anything useful. The problem is that "usefulness" is often determined by anything but our interests. It’s hard to work hard to make more money, to buy more stuff - no doubt good for the sucker punch guys - but not necessarily for you. And utility, in fact, is future-oriented: it pulls you away from the present, making savoring impossible. So it is entirely possible that "doing nothing" is synonymous with feeling alive.

2. Lack of purpose, rest, and even boredom can boost creativity

There is a great reason why so many famous writers and artists include long walks in their daily routine. This is a well-studied "incubation effect": by taking the focus away from the project, we seem to give ourselves unconscious permission to get started. (In one study, participants who knew they would return to a creative task did much better after taking a break than those who did not expect to return - suggesting that the difference lies in the unconscious processing of the task, not just rest.).

Other studies examining boredom (one of which forced participants to copy numbers from a phone book) suggest that boredom can motivate people to find interesting ways to mitigate it - and thus spur creative ideas. Meanwhile, aimless thinking fights the tunnel thinking that can happen from focusing on a goal. When you don't limit the flight of your thoughts, chances are that you won't weed out new ideas just because they are irrelevant.

3. Too much employment is unproductive

We have chronically beguiled effort and efficiency: a day spent on trivial tasks seems tiresome and therefore righteous, and we conclude - often wrong - which is useful. Further it gets worse. According to Danish labor expert Manfred Kets de Vries, being busy "can be a very effective defense mechanism for scaring off disturbing thoughts and feelings." And only during "doing nothing" can we finally get to the bottom of it.

4. Your brain is recharged during inactivity, rest

Since the Industrial Revolution, we have viewed humans as machines, suggesting that the way to achieve more is to force ourselves or others to work longer. But brain researchers are finding growing evidence that our brains depend on respite times - not only to recharge our batteries, but also to process information we've already downloaded, consolidate memory data, and spur learning. It does this by reinforcing the neural pathways that make everything work this way. In one 2009 study, scientists used MRI scans to study the brains of people who had to perform a strange task - control a computer joystick that did not obey normal commands. So, the results of the study showed that the participants' brains were actively working just during the seemingly passive pauses, which allowed the participant to effectively curb the naughty gadget.

5. You will regain control of your attention back

Do not expect doing "nothing" to be easy and simple: at first, resisting the urge to do something will take away your strength. Will cost willpower. In Buddhism, in the words of meditation instructor Susan Pivert, “busyness is seen as a form of laziness” - the inability to keep your attention from some random letter, task, or website that is trying to take over it. The solution to this problem has never been so difficult: the modern, especially the online economy is just a battleground for your attention. But the good news is that vigorous practice of "doing nothing" will help regain control of attention in other cases as well. Little trick: schedule yourself time for "doing nothing" the way you would schedule other tasks. Just do not expect others to understand when you become less likely to participate in social life due to being busy with idleness.))