How long can you go letting nothing happen? A day? An hour? A minute? A few seconds? A split second?
By "letting nothing happen" I don't mean not finishing any task. I mean not starting any. And not just a task, but even a thought meant to be productive. You know how you try to figure things out or plan? How long can you go without intentionally moving your mind in any way?
The Value of Effortlessness
Now I'm a productive person. I can get a lot done and create significant impact in the world. I've been doing it since I was a 9th grader, creating solutions for poor younger kids like free summer crafts camps and countywide youth councils and writing for the town paper. So when I talk about stopping the effort, stopping the mental striving, stopping the war against the present moment, I'm not advocating laziness. I'm not saying to abandon the idea that we matter in this great experience called human life.
What I'm saying is that there are other things that matter just as much, if not more. There is a way that you empower your action before you act, so that when you do move into action you do so with greater effect.
From the stillness, comes the full power of movement.
When I lived in Bali, I spent the first 4 months just sitting on my deck each day, staring at the sky. There were mountains in the distance, but also at the start and end of each day there were clouds that blocked the view of the mountains. So each day I would sit there watching the mountains come in and out of view.
At first I probably had some analytical thoughts about what was happening, the scientific mechanisms at work or how cool it was to witness. I don't really recall, but that sounds like how my mind busies itself. But after so many months, all the mental chatter stopped. There was just the sky, the mountains or not mountains, the clouds or not clouds, the seat I was sitting on, the breath moving in and out, the heat, the need to stop for food or no thought of food. In short, there was just unscrutinized experience.
And from within that stillness every single thing I had struggled and striven with so much effort to create for 10 years before, suddenly starting walking up and laying itself at my feet.
After 4 months I started feeling motivated to go into town, or to a party at a neighbor's, or to a restaurant for lunch/dinner. Each time I did, some incredible opportunity was offered to me without my even asking for it. And again, these were all things I'd tried in vain to do before.
Within the stillness, the heavens were moving, and each movement was to bring what I wanted to me. It was all being done for me while I sat at full stop, at last. It had been waiting all along for me to simply let it in.
Redux
So now here I am once again living out in the midst of nature and stillness without any need to work or achieve. I am planning to build a house, but right now there isn't really much I can do about that. My builder isn't available until October and the land is still in the process of being purchased anyway.
I come here and write, and I still have a couple of business consulting commitments still wrapping up another couple months, plus my mindset liberation community for people of color, and my home to attend to and dog to take care of. There's a bit of stuff demanding my attention here and there each day. But for the most part, I can do whatever I want with each minute of each day.
What I have been doing is a lot of shopping, and reading online, and analyzing ideas, and planning. A little of all of that is good, but I've been doing more than is really helpful. I've been doing it to prevent myself from doing nothing.
I wasn't thinking of it that way, of course. The mind always convinces itself that what it's thinking about is oh so very important. Thankfully I came to a moment of stopping while it wasn't my specific daily meditation time, which I tend to do by rote after so many years. I came to full stop in the space between one piece of candy for my mind and the next, and noticed that there was a value in not reaching for that next piece of mind candy.
And that's when I remembered the incredible blessing longer periods of such stillness had graced me with long ago.
So now I'm committing myself to spending at least a few minutes here and there each day just sitting. Just being. Just noticing that I'm being. Just noticing that which is aware of sitting and being.
Watching the Watcher
I encourage you to give it a try too. Perhaps you have previous experience of the benefits of daily stillness that can motivate you to sit to do it at least once each day. To do it even when your mind struggles so hard to avoid the rawness of nakedly encountering the present moment. If not, then I hope my experience can motivate you to commit to sit to do it, if only to pursue a more effective path to creating what you want. Just a minute here or there each day, to begin unlocking the doors to the wanted.
And when you do sit, and then typical mental/ego resistance arises to interfere, see if you can keep watching anyway. Watch the efforts at interference with dispassion. To quote Mooji:
Watch... the tendency to lapse into sleepiness, or the attention suddenly veering off towards some trivial pursuit.... These are common psychic reactions. This is a form of avoidance from the ego. It is as if it throws a stone in the bush in order to put you off its scent and so avoid detection."
I would say more than avoiding detection, it avoids irrelevance. It escapes being proven to not be needed by you every single second of every single day. It avoids even to be proven to be what has actually been holding you back all this time it was convincing you it was your only savior!
Let's play this game together for the next however many months. Then let's see what comes forward in life to lay itself at our feet.
(Photo source: Pixabay)
Resteems always appreciated!
Very cool challenge, @indigoocean. I love the way you title it, "Letting Nothing Happen." I admit I'm addicted to mind candy and while I've had the blessing of periods in my life where I could do just as you describe, reading your reflection and insights from another point of view shines a fresh new light on it that makes it different than I think I ever really thought of it before... Thank you so much for the fresh new reminder.
How cool. I'm hitting the "Pause" button NOW! 💚
😁
I'm ticking them off from a split second to an hour. It's that day one that alludes me thus far... 😁
I love this, and I have been following Mooji for many years - His teachings on stillness and the pure being somehow brought me out of a massive depressive state, at a time when I didn't have these awarenesses. To know that the inner voice is not actually real is a great way to find inner space.
It truly is amazing when we can allow ourselves to just be, to not know what's going to happen - and enjoy that emptiness. It's an amazing blessing, thank you for sharing :)
I'm so happy to hear that you're familiar with Mooji, and that you've even had such a powerful experience with him. He is one of just a handful of teachers in my lifetime who have been able to provide genuine "pointing out" instructions, where they give you a direct experience of the truth of your own awareness. And yes, it is amazing when we can do such a simple thing that we have so much resistance against doing!
I so needed to read this. When it comes to mind candy I'm a full blown addict lol. I live inside my head for much of the day and I never give myself a break to enjoy the benefit of nothingness.
I have been thinking about trying one of those sensory deprivation float tanks for over a year now, but haven't given it a try. I've also thought about attempting to start practicing meditation, but I haven't done that either.
I really need to find some space in my day where I can escape from everything even if just for a few moments because I know it would have a big positive effect on me. Maybe this post will be the catalyst for me start that journey.
First, I think the sdf tank is a great idea. You don't want to need it, but something like that can break through and give us a clear experience of what we're cultivating the ability to access on our own. It's hard to hit a target you can't see/feel.
Second, how about right now we just pause?
As I'm writing this, I'm doing that. I'm just going to pause and watch my breath come in... and go out... and come in again... three times.
Will/Did you do it to?
That's it. Nothing more is required. It's not some big thing to achieve. It's just a few seconds here and there of pausing with a focus on nothing of any importance. Then back to our regularly scheduled programming. 😁
It's a bit ironic because in my part time profession as a Sports Performance coach I have used breathing techniques with my athletes, but I rarely make time for it for myself. On the way home today I did download the headspace meditation app. Going to give that a try. Thanks for the kick in the butt lol.
Stop along the way, sit on a rock and enjoy that moment without thinking and without pressure, being alone with yourself. I think that's what you say. Maybe it will help to recharge the forces and fill with good ideas and put everything in order. Greetings.
Yes, very much so. Each time we pause in the midst of life to simply immerse ourselves in being alive, without analyzing that experience and abstracting it, the more we empower everything we value.
You got a 31.89% upvote from @ocdb courtesy of @indigoocean!
Congratulations,
you just received a 20.52% upvote from @steemhq - Community Bot!
Wanna join and receive free upvotes yourself?
Vote for
steemhq.witnesson Steemit or directly on SteemConnect and join the Community Witness.This service was brought to you by SteemHQ.com
👏Deep bows of gratitude, my friend.