It Seems I Am Not Alone in My Love Of Being Idle.
.1. Banish the guilt. We are all told that we should be terribly busy, so we can’t laze around without that nagging feeling that we need to be getting stuff done. I rejected my guilt upon learning that Europeans in the Middle Ages felt no shame for lolling about. Their favorite philosopher, Aristotle, had praised the contemplative life, and the monks spent a lot of time just praying and chanting. Guilt for doing nothing is artificially imposed on us by a Calvinistic and Puritanical culture that wants us to work hard. When you understand that it hasn’t always been this way, it becomes easier to shake it off.
My last few posts have been about time and how I have been enjoying life-especially doing nothing. Then today I get to my August issue of “Real Simple Magazine” and find this article-
“10 Ways To Enjoy Doing Nothing” by Tom Hodgkinson. Holy crap have I been successful at this list in the last few months!
7. Lie in a field. Doing nothing is profoundly healing―to yourself and to the planet. It is precisely our restless activity that has caused the environmental crisis. So do some good by taking a break from “doing” and go and lie on your back in a field. Listen to the birds and smell the grass.
8. Gaze at the clouds. Don’t have a field nearby? Doing nothing can easily be dignified by calling it “cloud spotting.” It gives a purpose to your dawdling. Go outside and look up at the ever-changing skies and spot the cirrus and the cumulonimbus.
The day before my knee surgery we all went over to Horner Park to let Lilo play with the ball. I was nervous about the anethesia and was distracted by how much work I wanted to do around the house to get ready for the slow down that recovery would bring. For those reasons I wanted to make her playtime as short as possible. Then we got under the trees and the next thing you know I was laying on the ground. Canyon was sleeping in the stroller and I realized that this was a moment he would enjoy so I woke him up and brought him down in the grass with me. We laid there, staring up at the leaves and trees for over an hour. I blew bubbles left over from Mary’s wedding and we snuggled in the grass. We threw the ball for Lilo and just enjoyed being in that moment. John stood the whole time, playing games on his I-phone. “You know I don’t like the grass” he said. We love him anyway.
I don’t remember the rest of that day-how much laundry I may have done, what we had for dinner or whether or not my kitchen was clean. But I do remember how connected I felt to nature, my family and my life.
The other day Canyon and I called John at the theatre to thank him for working so hard while I get to stay home with Canyon. During the day I play a game-”they don’t do this at daycare!” and appreciate how fortunate we are that we can afford this luxury. But I also appreciate the fact that we saved and are willing to sacrifice a lot of the perks we use to enjoy for this freedom. But I do feel guilty that the house isn’t spotless, the laundry is not always done and I am not dressed in heels and pearls when he comes home-the picture of the perfect house wife. Instead I am usually wearing lounge wear, hair in ponytail and no make up. There’s almost always a delightful meal but it’s not always at a well set table.
Now my goal is to keep is to keep up my “idlyllic art of idling” but balancing it with some house work and creative course work. I think I can do this. It’s a new season and I am ready to begin.
