You probably think I am crazy with this blog title. As simple as it may sound, I can bet a good majority of us find it difficult to do nothing or may well just find it impossible to do nothing. Everyday, its about doing something - slotting a class time in our diaries, setting a date for dinner, doing the house for a small party, feeding the baby, and doing this, and doing that. Awfully realistic and painful to know that your own life is governed by doing things and finding so little time to do all of it eh?
Recently had lunch with a friend of mine, who is in the advertising line. It was a Sunday afternoon, and he simply couldn't get his mind of work. He was constantly looking around the restaurant, looking at the decor, paintings, pictures, anything around just to find ideas for his work. He simply wasn't given a chance to just enjoy his lunch with a friend and not let work get in the way.
We each in our own ways have an agenda. We are all lobbyists for our own cause, our own opinions, aspirations, status, or career. While there's nothing wrong with getting ahead, whatever that may mean, it can also be an enormous relief now and then to lay down our own cause and enjoy wherever we find ourselves on its own terms.
We all need a reason to do something, find an agenda, set a date, plan something, think about doing something ahead of time...... I think you get the picture. But is that really true? On the contrary, we were groomed that way and we become like that because of how the society perceives life should be - all about making use of our time to DO something!
Last weekend, I drove past a cafe and saw this elderly man probably in his late 50s sipping a cup of coffee and just staring into blank space. That really got me thinking; I mean its not about sipping the cup of coffee as doing something but just really enjoying the surrounding. At a cafe, it really isn't about the coffee or tea that you drink but its about just sitting there, hearing captions of conversations, eavesdropping on what the next table might be ordering, having your own thoughts and just watching what is going on around you.
But no, we must almost find something to do. For most of us, just having a cup of coffee to drink can turn into an opportunity to do something - sms someone, Palm Pilot to put in more chores, Blueberry for news or even checking out a bypassing opposite sex.
The pleasure of doing bestowed upon me when I got home one Sunday after my lectures buggered and just brain freezed from the knowledge overload. Added to the fact my body was still recovering from the gym work I did the day before, my muscles ached all over and I was in a dire need for a warm shower to relax my muscles and my brain.
So I turn on my heater, go as hot as I can take and just step into the water. Seeing the steam coming of my body and the ground was really a good relief. The hot water bouncing off my body really made my muscles feel good and relaxed, the steam cleared my nose.
Recently had lunch with a friend of mine, who is in the advertising line. It was a Sunday afternoon, and he simply couldn't get his mind of work. He was constantly looking around the restaurant, looking at the decor, paintings, pictures, anything around just to find ideas for his work. He simply wasn't given a chance to just enjoy his lunch with a friend and not let work get in the way.
We each in our own ways have an agenda. We are all lobbyists for our own cause, our own opinions, aspirations, status, or career. While there's nothing wrong with getting ahead, whatever that may mean, it can also be an enormous relief now and then to lay down our own cause and enjoy wherever we find ourselves on its own terms.
We all need a reason to do something, find an agenda, set a date, plan something, think about doing something ahead of time...... I think you get the picture. But is that really true? On the contrary, we were groomed that way and we become like that because of how the society perceives life should be - all about making use of our time to DO something!
Last weekend, I drove past a cafe and saw this elderly man probably in his late 50s sipping a cup of coffee and just staring into blank space. That really got me thinking; I mean its not about sipping the cup of coffee as doing something but just really enjoying the surrounding. At a cafe, it really isn't about the coffee or tea that you drink but its about just sitting there, hearing captions of conversations, eavesdropping on what the next table might be ordering, having your own thoughts and just watching what is going on around you.
But no, we must almost find something to do. For most of us, just having a cup of coffee to drink can turn into an opportunity to do something - sms someone, Palm Pilot to put in more chores, Blueberry for news or even checking out a bypassing opposite sex.
The pleasure of doing bestowed upon me when I got home one Sunday after my lectures buggered and just brain freezed from the knowledge overload. Added to the fact my body was still recovering from the gym work I did the day before, my muscles ached all over and I was in a dire need for a warm shower to relax my muscles and my brain.
So I turn on my heater, go as hot as I can take and just step into the water. Seeing the steam coming of my body and the ground was really a good relief. The hot water bouncing off my body really made my muscles feel good and relaxed, the steam cleared my nose.
I didn't realise it but I was standing in the hot water for almost 45 minutes. I did not have any significant thoughts or worries. Not that I was unconscious or I had fainted, but I was merely vacant and simply not preoccupied with any agenda. I trul felt at ease and at peace.
Mabye and hour in a bath may not be your idea of a good time, but the point is not the bath but the rested mind that, in my case, it gave rise to. We all have our own ways. It's not what you don't do, it's the way you don't do it.
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