The Joy Diet...a week of nothing (or not)

   Before deciding to write this post today I have to admit I cheated and went to visit my fellow bloggers to see how their week of 'Nothing' went. It gave me the courage to write today's post because you see I was  sure I had failed miserably at doing 'nothing' this week.
   I am one of those people that can honestly say I don't think the words 'I'm bored' have ever crossed my lips. I always have something to do, something I want to do and mostly stuff I have to do! Sitting and doing nothing is not something I am accustomed to, even when I am sitting, I'm either reading, writing, stitching or doing some type of art. Forget about doing 'nothing' when standing or moving, if my hands aren't engaged, my brain is! I even have trouble turning down the volume in my head when trying to fall asleep, constant thoughts and ideas keep the synapses in my brain firing at all times. Even in sleep the craziest dreams seem to occupy the grey matter.
   On Monday I drove over to the beach to walk, should be easy to turn of the brain at the beach right? Not so much...I even went so far as to attend a yoga class on Tuesday, 90 minutes later I felt great but still hadn't really done nothing, after all, those poses and movements had to be thought about as they were relatively new to me. By Wednesday I was confined to the house with a ghastly head cold that plagues me still today. Even with my head feeling like a concrete block I couldn't manage to do 'nothing'.
   Pretty much I figured I had failed at this little exercise, that was until I started reading everyone else's posts. I wasn't the only one having difficulty with this...it turns out it's not so easy to turn off your brain even if you do manage to stop the physical movement of your body. Some people had success at meditation, never one of my strong suits. The closet I come to meditation is prayer, however my brain is still engaged when I praise and worship my God. I can also zone out, as it were, when making art, or gardening, or ironing. If my head is quiet and my hands are busy is that doing nothing??? I wasn't convinced that qualified.
   Then I had an epiphany...I have been wanting to go to my cabin, I always feel a longing to do so when I feel the day to day pressure getting to me here at home. Certainly my time there is often spent, antiquing, cooking, visiting friends...not doing 'nothing' but I can do 'nothing' if I choose to when I'm there. All I have to do is sit on the front porch and gaze across the yard and stare at the quaking aspen tree that sits in clear view. I love that tree...I can sit and watch it for hours, just watching it wave it's leaves at me as if greeting me, welcomimg me back to my cabin. So my vision card today is a picture of the quaking aspen tree...I have to get back there soon to visit it, before long, winter will take it's leaves and I will not see my friend waving until next spring.

                        Diva