It's wonderful having the luxury of doing nothing. It's wonderful
having the luxury of doing absolutely nothing at all.
Who do you know who's fortunate enough to afford the luxury of doing
nothing? Who do you know who's fortunate enough to afford the luxury of
doing absolutely nothing at all? What's your answer?
Here's mine: You ... and I ... and anyone ... and
everyone ... are fortunate enough to afford the luxury of
doing absolutely nothing at all.
Wait! What do you mean Laurence by "you and I and anyone
and everyone" are fortunate enough to afford the luxury of doing
absolutely nothing at all? What do you mean by "doing nothing"?
By doing nothing I don't mean sleeping late. By doing nothing I don't
mean lying on the couch watching the
soaps on TV,
flipping through the channels with the remote control, shoveling
popcorn into your mouth. By doing nothing I don't mean being idle. By
doing nothing I don't mean being unproductive. By doing nothing I don't
mean being on vacation. By doing nothing I don't even mean sitting on
the
beach
watching the sunset.
When you're sleeping late, that's doing something. It's not
doing nothing. When you're lying on the couch watching the
soaps on TV,
flipping through the channels with the remote control, shoveling
popcorn into your mouth, that's doing something. It's not doing
nothing. When you're being idle, that's doing something. It's not doing
nothing. When you're being unproductive, that's doing something. It's
not doing nothing. When you're on vacation, that's doing something.
It's not doing nothing. When you're sitting on the
beach
watching the sunset, that's doing something. It's not doing nothing.
Doing nothing is doing what you're doing while you're doing it. That's
what doing nothing is. That's all doing nothing is.
When you're doing what you're doing while you're doing it, you're doing
nothing. It's whole, complete, fulfilling, and satisfying. Anyone and
everyone is fortunate enough to afford the luxury of doing absolutely
nothing at all. I don't need the wherewithal to do
nothing. I don't need to retire or to have amassed enough
wealth to do nothing. Doing nothing isn't a reflection of
material success in Life - like something attained. I assert
anyone and everyone can afford the luxury of doing absolutely nothing
at all.
Doing nothing is an act of will. It's an act of intention. It's not the
absence of will. It's not the absence of intention.
Anything and absolutely everything I do is an access to
doing nothing. All I have to do is do it while I'm doing it.
The thing about doing anything while I'm doing it (which is to say the
thing about doing nothing) is it's not a rational analysis
which concludes I'm doing nothing when I'm doing what I'm doing while
I'm doing it. I can't get it that way. It's not an
intellectual debate which determines I'm doing nothing
when I'm doing what I'm doing while I'm doing it. I can't get it that
way either. The way I get it is as an experience. When I'm doing
what I'm doing while I'm doing it, I experience doing nothing -
absolutely nothing at all.
When I experience doing nothing, I'm whole, I'm complete, I'm
fulfilled, and I'm satisfied - regardless of what I'm doing. That's
profound. In addition to the profundity, doing nothing this way (as it
turns out) makes for high velocity productivity. It's anything
but idle and unproductive. If you think doing nothing is idle
and unproductive, think again. That's not doing nothing.