Episode 130: When Was the Last Time You Did Nothing at All?
Not every minute of every day has to be productive or useful. Doing nothing is a radical act.
Watching a sailboat sailing in the evening, the crew calling out directions to one another above the wind and waves.
When was the last time you did nothing at all?
Sitting still, without distraction, simply to listen to the sounds around you for an hour.
Letting your mind wander, making new connections, finding pathways that surprise even you.
Running your hands over familiar objects, things you see with your eyes but have never felt with your hands.
Sitting at a loom, weaving a rug, the bright colors taking shape before your eyes.
Knowing that not every minute of your life must be productive. You can simply be, you can do what you will.
Allowing yourself to be where you are, to inhabit a place fully, to see every inch of it for what it is.
The last dying days of summer, the sun warm on your skin, your straw hat protecting you from worse.
Cooking up a large gorgeous stew in the crockpot, enough for a few different meals.
Noticing the texture of the world around you, the tiny details that ground everything and make it beautiful.
Steaming artichokes and eating them with good mayonnaise and lemon.
How little plants and animals need to be happy and content.
Going to the gym very early in the morning, no one else around, time to do what you like.
Repotting a cactus in a larger pot, allowing it room to grow, room to breathe.
Looking at the clock on the weekend, knowing you have so many more hours left in your day.
Big knobbly pumpkins on front steps all over town.
When you begin to speak about the future with someone, tentatively at first, but as the months pass, the years begin to stretch out in front of you.
Happiness Spells Podcast is a five minute list of all the greatest pleasures and smallest joys in life. Increase your capacity for positivity, curiosity and gratitude.
This episode of Happiness Spells was written, arranged, recorded and produced by Amanda Meyncke in Temecula, CA. Our music is by Chris Zabriskie.