Jonat - The joy of doing nothing: a real-life guide to stepping back, slowing down, and creating a simpler, joy-filled life

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For Chris, my favorite person to do nothing with.

6:15 a.m. Your alarm goes off, and you slowly wake to the warm comfort of your bed. Your cat is curled up on the pillow next to you, and you take some moments to scratch her behind the ears, enjoying the deep purr of satisfaction she gives in response to your touch. Theres no rush to get out of bed because youve given yourself plenty of time to work through your morning routine. You snuggle back in for another ten minutes and simply listen to the rustle of a light wind in the trees outside your window. When you feel ready to leave your bed, you head to the bathroom for a hot shower to start your day.

Does this morning scene sound relaxing and amazing? Does it also sound very far from what you currently experience on a daily basis? Finding time to do nothing is an easy and incredibly powerful way to lower your stress, increase your happiness, and enjoy your life.

Just as your body needs rest, so does your mind. We need quiet. We need an opportunity to think of nothing at all. It is restorative and improves your health and overall well-being. Its something you deserve after all your hard work.

Doing nothing can awaken you or it can relax you. Doing nothing can be both a tool to slow down and a tool to make the rest of our time more productive, energizing, and rewarding. Creating these pockets of well-deserved white space in your day gives you an opportunity to relax, de-stress, and appreciate the people and things around you.

If youve ever felt guilty for doing nothing, for wasting a Saturday afternoon or for your secret Thursday evening ritual of doing nothing, this book will give you all the reasons you need to joyfully embrace your unscheduled time.

And yes, doing nothing is joyful . You will enjoy your life more when you make doing nothing a part of it. The trees really will seem greener, youll notice the beauty of a building you walk by daily for the first time, and the simple pleasures of life will fill you with contentment. Youre going to see the beauty and possibility in a twelve-minute wait for your take-out order. There is so much joy in your daily life that doing nothing will unlock and open you to. Youll see the wonder all around you when you make the time to do nothing.

Doing nothing sounds almost too easy. Turn and stare at your shoes for a few seconds right nowboom, youre making it happen. But so many of us cant find or make the time for this essential component of a healthy life. This book will show you how to incorporate doing nothing into your daily life in a way thats meaningful to you and works with your schedule. After all, everyone is busy. But no matter how much you have on your plate, youll find easy-to-implement suggestions in this book for reclaiming bits of time throughout your day for doing nothing.

We will examine several areasFamily and Friends, Work, Home, and Other Activities (such as hobbies)and give you tools for finding the quiet in each of them. Throughout the book, youll find three levels of doing nothing (light, medium, and deep) so you can scale your approach appropriately to your lifestyle. Along the way, youll learn dozens of real-life ways to create time and space for that most luxurious of activities: doing nothing.

Excited? Great. Now go stare at that water stain on your ceiling that looks like a Buddha for ten minutes and then well get started.

Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.

Theophrastus, Greek Philosopher

Doing nothing is a luxurious type of self-care. When we think about luxury or riches, we often gravitate to the material: cars, home, clothing. But time is the ultimate luxury. Time cant be bought in a store, and its one of the most sought-after commodities of modern life. Everyone wants more time these days. When you take the time to do nothing, you prioritize self-care and realign your time usage with your values. Its a well-deserved way to recharge after all of your hard work.

When you take the time to do nothing, you prioritize self-care and realign your time usage with your values.

If you prioritize this type of self-care, youll find out whats important to you. Material goods, shopping, and working harder and longer hours to earn more money and buy more stuff are unfulfilling pursuits. Spend more, make more, buy more, and want more; its an endless cycle of chasing after things to find happiness. When you hit the pause button and refresh your mind and body with doing nothing, youll find clarity about what truly brings you meaning and happiness in life.

To do nothing is to immerse yourself in activities that allow you to rest, replenish, and have fun. This is not a call to laziness but rather an intentional, calm, and proactive effort to save space and time in your life just for yourself. Let yourself do nothingit is, in fact, sweet and restful time that you need.

As you make the choice to do nothingfor ten minutes, for an hour, for a whole afternoonyou are resisting the pervasive call to be constantly busy, overscheduled, and stressed. You are resting your brain and your body. You are making a conscious decision to put your well-being ahead of mental busyness.

Doing nothing is also a secret path to contentment and productivity. Taking these moments for yourself not only pays you back immediately with a positive and relaxed state of mind, but it also gives you long-term benefits in many areas of your life.

To put it simply, you will enjoy your life more when you make doing nothing a part of it. There is so much beauty in your daily life that doing nothing will show you.

Youre a happier and less stressed employee, friend, partner, mother, father, sister, brother . You arent distracted when talking to people, and you can fully engage with them. That break to do nothing is a reset button and a release. You let the daily and long-term worries and stress go when you actively claim time for yourself. You feel lighter.

You enjoy the simple pleasures in your life more . You are much more aware of all those small but beautiful daily joys.

You are grateful . Fewer distractions allow you to really appreciate all that you have.

You find a new perspective . You see the good in your day ahead of, and in spite of, any bad. The glass really is half full. The usual delays in life like traffic, or someone being late for a meeting, are no longer irritations but rather opportunities. Those delays are now minutes you can take for yourself.

While it may seem counterintuitive, taking breaks to do nothing actually makes you more productive in the long run.

You tackle those hard tasks with ease . The break to do nothing puts you in a positive feedback loop: less stress, more focus, more energy. You dive into your work without distraction because you took that replenishing break to do nothing. Its suddenly easy to knock out those tough tasks.