Thoughts on Nothing: The Joy Diet – Week Two
Posted by kaileenelise on September 25th, 2009
The willingness to listen and act on your inspiration
is imperative if you’re going to live the life you desire.
(Wayne Dyer)
Before I finished reading this chapter, I assumed I knew the meaning of nothing.
On the first few pages I found Martha Beck’s words, “…doing just about anything is preferable to doing nothing,” and convinced myself that I was destined for defeat – doomed to a week of 15-minute sections of required silence.
This is the problem with assumptions.
Assuming I knew something about nothing, I forced myself into stillness for a 15-minute meditation in lotus pose. I thought a personal-development book would only prescribe this version of nothing.
After completing the chapter, I realized I have been craving the nothing Beck describes. My crazy day-to-day schedule often leaves me frazzled and yearning for a lot of nothing.
My 12 years as a competitive swimmer taught me wonderful lessons on time management, perseverance, tenacity and humility. It never occurred to me that the hours I spent in the pool provided me with the quiet and stillness of nothing.
A two-hour swim practice provides a lot of time to stare at the black line at the bottom of the pool. Mostly, you are left alone in your head. When Beck recommends we calm our bodies with mindless physical activity – something clicked. I once mastered my nothing. I had a lot of it.
I am no longer fortunate to have hours of nothing built into my daily routine. However, I do have an amazing community of friends in this blog and twitter universe. I have time, resources and books like The Joy Diet. I can set aside 15 minutes a day and make a little space for nothing.
I must confess that I did not complete the task for the entire week, but this realization is a step in the right direction – forward movement towards the life I desire and the woman I wish to be.
As I move into the next chapter of our journey, I will bring my nothing along and look forward to exploring truth with you next Friday.
Tags: Everyday Life, Gratitude, Joy, Swimming, Twitter
i immensely enjoy doing nothing. i am feeling my days & hours of nothing coming to an end due to going to massage therapy school & yoga teacher training. at least i am giving up my nothing for something i love. i know i’ll have to put in at least an hour of nothing each week to be able to function.
i love your reading your take on nothing.
Wonderful collage. I too was excited to read someone who understood that movement and meditation were excellent companions.
I think it’s alright to take baby steps, as long as you are on the way!
So happy nothing to you!
What a beautiful collage!
I think the important thing is for doing nothing to not feel like another thing on your to-do list. And I think it’s less important that you do it every day and more important that you know and remember that it is a tool that is always available to you to use.
Can’t wait to read your post on truth!
It is the time we need and crave and don’t realize how much until we stop and actually make the time. It’s hard to introduce a new “habit” into life but knowing that we want and intend to is the first step. I love your vision board by the way — the words are wonderful as are the images.
It is so easy for us to get caught up in assumptions or false perceptions. However, it is equally as easy to re-ground ourselves in reality when we approach it from a positive perspective. Take a 15 minute nothing break may seem daunting but it can be completed in whatever format that fits you best. Maybe doing nothing means taking a walk away from your regular environment or maybe it means turning off the computer and tv an hour early at night then your regular routine. Small baby steps that are comfortable to you are far more important then jumping into it with both feet. : )
I know what you meant. I tried the lotus mediation pose as well. I ended up mainly in bed upper body propped up on a pillow. That felt less like “work” and “should” and more decadent.
Congratulations on how every many minutes of nothing you found in your week. I was able to do some at the end of my week, but it was harder than I thought.
Bravo to you for discovering YOUR way of experiencing nothingness… that is awesome!
That is a GORGEOUS collage. I love that you put your fortune cookie fortune on it. I’m going to have to steal that idea!
Ahhh. I LOOVVE that you made the connection of nothing with swimming. After the 500 stopped destroying me, it became this effortless peaceful heaven.
I do this with knitting now. (omg..remember my days of learning. oh boy.) Once I got the skill down, to sit with my needles clacking in complete calm feels really good. I don’t make anything these days – I just knit to knit.
Maybe there’s some crotchet in your future.. ?
It was so inspiring to see the way you have found your moments of nothingness. Lovely collage.
Wonderful post and good for you! You are well on your way to NOTHING!
I absolutely adore your vision card!! Loving this new diet we’re on… <3
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with nothing. I think your realization is fantastic and is leading you down the path to nothing.
I too have found that swimming is such a great time to meditate and focus inward. Throughout the summer I would regularly indulge in what I called swimtation. Now that it is colder, I am finding myself craving that time in the pool where it is just me and the water.
the statement that downtime doesn’t equate with rest is great! I used to swim laps regularly and can see how that could be meditative – I was then at a point in my life full of turmoil, and I think the water around my head must have heated up with how busy it was. Now I could just enjoy the quiet rhythm.
Look forward to hearing you respond to truth.
[...] The Joy Diet. The mission seemed simple enough—continue to develop a relationship with nothing while incorporating one moment of truth each [...]