How to Do Nothing
Steal time., Find a quiet place to sit., Eliminate distractions., Try DIY sensory deprivation., Just sit., Try clearing your mind and "watching" your thoughts., Find a meditative activity., Try progressive muscle relaxation.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Steal time.
Life gets loud, stressful, and tense.
When you're ready to pull the trigger on some serious leisure, set a block of time and keep it.
Doing nothing on a regular basis is very healthy for your mind, body, and emotional life, especially if you find that you're really wearing yourself thin.
Every now and then, it's ok.
If you're feeling stressed and overwhelmed, you don't need to set aside hours and hours of nothingness, which would just be silly.
Steal 15 minutes every now and then, and you can seriously de-stress. -
Step 2: Find a quiet place to sit.
Go somewhere you can escape, zone out, and find some peace.
If you live in a small apartment, set aside a corner of a larger room with floor pillows, a softly scented candle and maybe a cozy throw.
Wherever it is, make sure you can feel comfortable and calm.
You don't have to be a monk sitting on top of a mountain in Japan to find peace and quiet.
Hit up a quiet corner of the public park, or set out a deck chair in your backyard.
Park your car in an empty lot and just sit there. , If you're looking at your phone, you're doing something.
Turn off your phone, computer, radio, television and any other means of sending or receiving calls or messages.
These distractions will only keep you from enjoying the nothing.
It can be nice to set an alarm, if necessary, so you can remind yourself when your period of "nothing time" is over. , Some people pay good money for the experience of sensory deprivation, which is basically doing nothing in a dark tank set at your body temperature.
While you might not be able to get it perfect, you can approximate the experience.
Draw a warm bath and wait until it gets as close as possible to your body temperature.
Turn off all the lights, put some earmuffs on, and try to float in the tub for a while.
Trippy stuff. , Zazen, commonly shortened "zen" is a kind of meditation known as "just sitting" meditation.
If you ask Zen monks what they're doing during meditation, they would say, "Just sitting." There is no goal to sitting meditation, no end result.Doing nothing is sometimes a lot harder than doing something, and one of the central learnings of Zen is to just "do" whatever it is you're doing.
When you're eating lunch, just eat lunch.
When you're sitting, just sit.
When you're collating data at work, just collate data at work. , Meditation is not thinking.
Meditation is allowing your thoughts to occur, unaffected.
Let your thoughts of work, worries, family go
- not by simply letting them go, but by watching them leave from a distance.
Doing this not only allows your body to do nothing but your mind as well.
Imagine that you're pulling the camera back away from your thoughts, watching them from a distance.
Who's doing this watching? Keep pulling the camera back until you can't.
Look for stillness.
Don't be discouraged if you find your mind quite active in meditation.
Buddhist monks dedicate their entire lives to freeing their minds.
For now, shed your worries as much as you can and revel in feeling lighter and less encumbered. , While this may not be "nothing," strictly speaking, some people find it easier to avoid distressing thoughts if their mind is focused on a rote activity.
Try arranging a Zen garden, or stacking rocks, or engaging in a repetitive activity such as crocheting.
Pay attention to only what your hands are doing, and don't allow other thoughts to intrude. , This process can help you achieve deep relaxation while doing nothing.
Focus on relaxing each muscle group, from your face to your feet, slowly and with regular, even breaths. -
Step 3: Eliminate distractions.
-
Step 4: Try DIY sensory deprivation.
-
Step 5: Just sit.
-
Step 6: Try clearing your mind and "watching" your thoughts.
-
Step 7: Find a meditative activity.
-
Step 8: Try progressive muscle relaxation.
Detailed Guide
Life gets loud, stressful, and tense.
When you're ready to pull the trigger on some serious leisure, set a block of time and keep it.
Doing nothing on a regular basis is very healthy for your mind, body, and emotional life, especially if you find that you're really wearing yourself thin.
Every now and then, it's ok.
If you're feeling stressed and overwhelmed, you don't need to set aside hours and hours of nothingness, which would just be silly.
Steal 15 minutes every now and then, and you can seriously de-stress.
Go somewhere you can escape, zone out, and find some peace.
If you live in a small apartment, set aside a corner of a larger room with floor pillows, a softly scented candle and maybe a cozy throw.
Wherever it is, make sure you can feel comfortable and calm.
You don't have to be a monk sitting on top of a mountain in Japan to find peace and quiet.
Hit up a quiet corner of the public park, or set out a deck chair in your backyard.
Park your car in an empty lot and just sit there. , If you're looking at your phone, you're doing something.
Turn off your phone, computer, radio, television and any other means of sending or receiving calls or messages.
These distractions will only keep you from enjoying the nothing.
It can be nice to set an alarm, if necessary, so you can remind yourself when your period of "nothing time" is over. , Some people pay good money for the experience of sensory deprivation, which is basically doing nothing in a dark tank set at your body temperature.
While you might not be able to get it perfect, you can approximate the experience.
Draw a warm bath and wait until it gets as close as possible to your body temperature.
Turn off all the lights, put some earmuffs on, and try to float in the tub for a while.
Trippy stuff. , Zazen, commonly shortened "zen" is a kind of meditation known as "just sitting" meditation.
If you ask Zen monks what they're doing during meditation, they would say, "Just sitting." There is no goal to sitting meditation, no end result.Doing nothing is sometimes a lot harder than doing something, and one of the central learnings of Zen is to just "do" whatever it is you're doing.
When you're eating lunch, just eat lunch.
When you're sitting, just sit.
When you're collating data at work, just collate data at work. , Meditation is not thinking.
Meditation is allowing your thoughts to occur, unaffected.
Let your thoughts of work, worries, family go
- not by simply letting them go, but by watching them leave from a distance.
Doing this not only allows your body to do nothing but your mind as well.
Imagine that you're pulling the camera back away from your thoughts, watching them from a distance.
Who's doing this watching? Keep pulling the camera back until you can't.
Look for stillness.
Don't be discouraged if you find your mind quite active in meditation.
Buddhist monks dedicate their entire lives to freeing their minds.
For now, shed your worries as much as you can and revel in feeling lighter and less encumbered. , While this may not be "nothing," strictly speaking, some people find it easier to avoid distressing thoughts if their mind is focused on a rote activity.
Try arranging a Zen garden, or stacking rocks, or engaging in a repetitive activity such as crocheting.
Pay attention to only what your hands are doing, and don't allow other thoughts to intrude. , This process can help you achieve deep relaxation while doing nothing.
Focus on relaxing each muscle group, from your face to your feet, slowly and with regular, even breaths.
About the Author
Carolyn Lee
A passionate writer with expertise in lifestyle topics. Loves sharing practical knowledge.
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