Give yourself the gift of time with no goals, on retreat, on vacation, and at home
“Dolce far niente.”
“What does that mean?”
“Oh, it’s a saying we have in Italy: How sweet to do nothing.”
“Well, you’re in America now and they can pull you in for that.”
“Oh, poor Americans.”
— Sophia Loren & Cary Grant — Houseboat (1958)
Our new level of connectedness is a wonderful thing — perhaps the greatest blessing technology has brought us. But it has created a new problem. In this hyper-connected world, time in which you can do nothing is rare.
Despite how highly I value and seek out serenity, I am linked continuously to my workplace and other obligations. It’s all too easy to feel pressured by the things I could be doing — like Fran in Black Books, cursing under her breath while answering her cell phone as she’s running late for yoga.
The seeds were planted centuries ago with the Puritan work ethic — epitomized by Isaac Watt’s hymn for children from the early 1700s praising the worker bee, which includes the lines:
In works of labour or of skill,
I would be busy too;
For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.
The industrial age took things to a new level. Then, since Houseboat was released, we’ve had the information age, greed is good, and time is money. And now, cell phones and the internet have really changed the game.
So, in these lazy days of midsummer, I want to put our focus on: doing nothing….
[Read the rest of What Works: How Sweet to Do Nothing at bustedhalo.com.]
