Doing nothing is an impossible assignment for me. It is a foreign concept. Literally. They call it Niksen, which is Dutch for the art of doing nothing. It is uncomfortable. It feels wasteful and smacks of evil. Yes, evil. Have you not heard “Idle hands are the devil’s playthings”? They attribute the quote to Benjamin Franklin, so it must be correct. Yet, when do we do nothing? Most of us constantly check our phones, send texts while binge-watching the entire season of the latest “must-see” miniseries as we mindlessly eat dinner. They teach us engaging in busyness is vital, predictive of our success. Inactivity means we are lazy, unproductive, and are not contributing to society.
Is it true? What are we producing when we view a tv show? How productive are we flitting and fluttering from task to text, juggling our over-scheduled lives? What if we took a moment to revel in the rising sun’s beauty while we sip our morning coffee? Would calm and peace influence and have a positive impact on our entire week? Would we boost our overall daily productivity, increase creativity, become better problem solvers, and improve our mental health?
So, lately, I have tweaked my schedule to allow myself to ease into my day. I have stopped playing video games and swapped it with a program to learn another language. The substitution lets me relax while also enhancing my knowledge. With one minor change, I can accomplish two goals in the same time frame. And it gives me more time to do nothing.
Do you grant yourself space for nothing?
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Keep on writing.
Jo Hawk The Writer
Jo Hawk 
Doing nothing is quite hard to do, I think. I mean, even when our hands are idle, our minds are usually working hard on something. I would love to find a way to switch it off, even for a few minutes…
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I don’t know how to shut off my mind. Its part of the reason I have difficulties falling asleep. 😮💤💤
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I am so glad I don’t have this problem very often… sleeping is the only peace I get!
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You are blessed. Sleep is often ellusive for me.
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Everyone should be good at something!
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Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie.
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Thank you for sharing. 💕📚💕
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Excellent advice. At the beginning of this year, I actually swapped out playing Solitaire and Hearts on the computer to make time for finding other Blogs and reading and commenting on them. It turned out to be wonderful trade off.
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I am always amazed at the differnce a minor tweak can make in my day. Glad you found a good trade off for your time. 👍💗
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Reblogged this on The Reluctant Poet and commented:
Come and Read This!!!
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Thank you for sharing. 💕📚💕
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Always a joy and pleasure to read and share your posts with followers, My Dear! Hope you have a great day!! xoxox 😘💕🎁🌹
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