Art of doing nothing – The Economic Times

We think that when we are not doing anything, we are wasting our time. Because we have the tendency to think in terms of doing, and not in terms of being. Out time is first of all for us to be. To be what? To be alive, to be peace, to be joy, to be loving. And that is what the world needs the most – so, we train ourselves in order to be.

In our society, everyone is over-scheduled, including children. And that is why we suffer with stress, depression and so on. I think we have pushed our children to work too hard, and we have pushed ourselves to work too hard. This is not a civilisation. We have to change the situation.

In Plum Village, every week we have one day called a lazy day – a day when you refrain from doing anything. You resist doing things because you are used to doing things. It can be a bad habit: if you are not doing anything, you have to die. You cannot bear the thought of doing nothing. It has become a habit.

That is why when you do not do anything, you suffer. The lazy day is a kind of habit energy. On lazy days, you do your best to refrain from trying to do something. You try to do nothing. It is hard, but we have to learn because if you know the art of being, then you have the ground for every action. Action must be based on non-action.

(Ahimsa Trust represents Thich Nhat Hanh in India. It offers talks, retreats and mindfulness meditation sessions: www.ahimsatrust.org/ email ahimsa.trust@gmail.com)