Have you every had a day when you wake up and know instantly that you are heading for a Nothing Day?
A day where the mind & body really doesn't want to do anything at all!
Even though there are still the little daily routines, the weekly routines, and a list of things to do as long as your arm that are calling for attention ....
I had one of the those Nothing Days yesterday.
They don't happen very often ... well should I say that I may wake up feeling like it but the feeling slips away as soon as my feet hit the bedroom floor, or I may be visited by the feeling as the late afternoon slips into evening, in which case I normally slip into a lovely warm bath and go to bed early (providing I don't have a class to teach!).
I honestly believe that because I am growing older, wiser and more in touch with my true self that I allow myself the Nothing Day and really don't feel guilty about allowing it.
What a comparison to when I was younger; always having to be on the go, always doing, always achieving .... and how did I feel? Rubbish, unfulfilled, full of discomfort and lost.
But for me a Nothing Day is a day that I do treat with respect and caution, as they can become addictive (we don't want to encourage laziness) which can then lead to depression; but on the whole the occasional Nothing Day is a way for me to release my overwhelmed mind & body; allowing me to rest and recover, revitalise.
So why am I telling you this?
I have noticed that when I allow a Nothing Day, I may find myself bored and uninspired to do anything but
watch a good old fashioned film (The King and I - remake),
play solitaire on my iPhone,
wrap myself up in my dressing gown (over my clothes) and don my fleeced lined slipper socks,
be aware of back to back episodes of Rhod Gilbert's Work Experience ....
But while I am in a Nothing Day, I can sense what is going on in my mind & body; I work with and through the reactions of what I am seeing and feeling; the emotions, beliefs and thoughts that appear ....... but instead of latching onto them, I just watch them unfold, grow and disappear.
It's fascinating!
I thought having a Nothing Day would lead to very little sleep last night, but quite the opposite, I slept better than I have done in weeks.
I woke early, refreshed and was out tending the garden at 6:30am (before the rain was due to start again - which it didn't!) before settling down to look at my list of things to do.
I crossed a good number of the 'to dos' off as they really were not necessary any longer.
Crossing things off the list is something that I have also learnt "is OK to do" over the last few years of practicing and teaching somatic movement and meditation. Lists of things to do can be put together and, if left long enough, some (if not all) items on that list will become totally unnecessary and irrelevant.
The upside(s) of this is that not only do the lists become smaller, but they don't pray on my mind ... you know those annoying things that sit at the back of the mind and every now and then prod to remind ... and cause stress.
So all in all Nothing Days can be justified for having such positive effects on, if nothing else, than the length of the To-Do lists!