# 10 Ways to Enjoy Doing Nothing



## Meanderer (Sep 19, 2014)

_*Advice on how to switch off―no thoughts of your to-do list―from a man who has devoted his career to the idyllic art of idling.

By Tom Hodgkinson
*_
One morning, nearly 20 years ago, I was lying in bed. It was late. I was supposed to be working, but I seemed glued to the mattress. I hated myself for my laziness. And then, by chance, I picked up a collection of writings by Dr. Samuel Johnson, the 18th-century wit and the compiler of the first comprehensive English dictionary. In the book were excerpts from a weekly column he had written called The Idler, in which the great man celebrated idleness as an aspiration, writing in 1758, “Every man is, or hopes to be, an Idler.”  This was an epiphany for me. Idleness, it seemed, was not bad. It was noble. It was excessive busyness that caused all the problems!

http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/life-strategies/10-ways-enjoy-doing-nothing


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## oakapple (Sep 22, 2014)

Dr. Johnson had many things right! I enjoy some idle moments, to let your thoughts wander, looking at the sky, or on a Winter's day into the flickering flames of a log fire. 'What is this world, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare' etc. A lot of people do feel guilty if they are not busy busy all day long, but we need some idleness in our lives after all.


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## JustBonee (Sep 22, 2014)

Nice to read that link ...  sometimes when we feel no guilt doing nothing, others will try to bring the guilt on us..


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## Just plain me (Sep 29, 2014)

I enjoy idliness too. Just to think my own thoughts, I love quite at the end of the day. I like to sit on our enclosed porch with the light off and let my mind wander where it will. However when it's daylight I prefer to be surronded by people. If I had my way my screen door would swing back and forth all day with neighbors and friends visting. Oh how I miss those days of childhood when neighbors visited, the adults played card games (Rook was a favorite) and the children played hide and seek, tag and caught fire flies in a jar. This was the time for busy hands to rest, relax and enjoy the day.


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## Meanderer (Oct 3, 2014)




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## Ina (Oct 3, 2014)

I'll just have to work harder at being idle.


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## SifuPhil (Oct 4, 2014)

Ina said:


> I'll just have to work harder at being idle.



A very Zen statement! 

From a very early age I wanted to be a master of idleness, so I set about scheduling lessons and practice sessions in it, fretting that I was not idle enough in my pursuit of idleness.

It wasn't until my divorce and the last 12 years that I have finally hit upon the true practice of being idle. As soon as I want to do it, I don't. I find some other thing to not-do.


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## Meanderer (Oct 6, 2014)

View attachment 10266


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