It’s amazing how intelligent it is just to spend some time sitting. A lot of people are way too active.
– Charlie Munger (American investor and philanthropist, business partner of Warren Buffet)
Some people call it meditation.
But that term can conjure up all manner of associations that don't help.
It's not about becoming a Buddhist, or tending a zen garden.
What I need more than anything every now and then is some time and space to just shut everything out. To do absolutely nothing.
I'm not talking about making time to read. Or write. Or run. Or podcast. Or catch up with a friend.
I'm talking about truly doing nothing (except breathing).
The modern world makes this close to impossible.
If you take your phone away, perhaps you still have a smart watch. You take that away and your iPad or laptop might be in close reach. You take that away and you may have a smart speaker or a TV on in the background.
And if you take all of those away, then your brain might be so accustomed to stimulation that you immediately reach for something — anything! — to distract. A book, an old magazine, a newspaper. Heck, even a cereal box will do.
And then, even if you remove ALL of that, if you live with someone else, or work with others, you might just find that your attempt to do nothing is interrupted again. On the basis that "you didn't seem to be doing anything so..."!
Doing nothing in modern society is not easy.
But I think it's more important to try than ever.