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The Lost Art of Doing Nothing
Don’t you think it’s time for a break? Plagued—as we are!—by nonstop pings and notifications, we have lost the knack of zoning out. Kicking back. Slacking off. Even when pandemic-induced lockdowns forcibly cleared our calendars, many who thought I’m free! filled their days with Netflix and doomscrolling. How can we reclaim our free time (planned or not) to truly rest and reset?
Cover of The Lost Art of Doing Nothing

When you find yourself feeling stressed; when you perceive that everyone around you are in a state of false sense of busyness and that causes you stress; when you find yourself in a state of ennui (or when you fear being bored); when you need a bulwark against the constant barrage of things that pull at your attention, there is an opportunity of applying a bit of niksen in your life.

Niksen is a Dutch word for to do nothing. It is having nothing to do and not finding something new to do. It is the absence of any other activity.

In recent years, the Scandinavians have inundated the world with their lifestyle trends, including the quest for lykke (happiness), hygge (coziness), and lagom (literally “just the right amount,” meaning being content with what you have). This is all wonderful, of course, but it has little to do with doing nothing. Remember: Niksen serves no purpose whatsoever.

What niksen advocates is to relax and lose yourself in doing nothing, absolutely nothing at all. Take a chill pill, in short. 🙂

Applying niksen in everyday life helps us be creative by forcing the brain to switch to the default mode network and find connections. The simple mindfulness exercise of focusing on your breath promotes calmness for a while. That oasis of calm is sometimes what we need to get up and carry on with our daily life.

I loved the illustrations by Lona Aalders. I picked up this book because of the cover. 🙂

The Lost Art of Doing Nothing: How the Dutch Unwind with Niksen by Maartje Willems, Lona Aalders (Illustrator). Translated from the Dutch by Laura Vroomen. Published in March 2021 by The Experiment.

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This question was inspired by The Art of Noticings by Rob Walker.

There is a difference between commuting through life vs cruising through it.

COMMUTING, active verb, is to travel along with the assumption that every godforsaken human being currently on this planet is in my way. - Timothy “Speed” Levitch

When you are approaching life as a commute, you are in a state on constant rush. Everyone you encounter is a hindrance on the way. Your life goal then becomes a sole of getting to the end of the journey.

CRUISING, also a verb, active verb, is the immediate appreciation of the beauty immediately around you in your immediacy. - Timothy “Speed” Levitch

On the other hand, when you look at it as a cruise, you have the time to notice things as you journey. And that can bring you joy.

So once again, are we living our lives as a commute or as a cruise?

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Palaniyarpalayam to Chennai

📅 to (524km 🛣 in 8h 58m ⏱)

Self (Swift Dzire) 🚗 with 🛑 at A2B @ Perundurai 🍽️, @ KFC, Vikravandi 🍽️, and Aaladipattiyan Karupatti Coffee@ Medavakkam☕.

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We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
― T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

Here I am again, still trying to make sense of blogging again in the age of social media.

I've become dissatisfied with the current state of social media. I've been slowly withdrawing from it over the past couple of years. My dissatisfaction with what social media promised at the start and what it has become now is why I'm trying to start writing again on my own site.

The advantage of owning your domain is that it is an eternal sandbox that you can always play with. You can build it up or raze it down to rebuild.

I'm not sure of how long this will remain or when I decide to refresh again. But then again, I'm considering it a new start for the new year and let's see where this odyssey leads. And I hope I can resist the siren's call of social media and use this space more than the previous years.