I love traveling and with traveling there comes a certain adventure because you never know what happens – delay in flights, missed connections. I was telling somebody that I loved being on planes and in the airport because while I am there, I am nowhere – I have nothing to do, and I am in transit. And since my husband and I have experienced a fair share of airport delays, we are at home in airports.

Once it so happened that I had a trip planned for one of the weekends, but it got canceled due to the weather. And as it was a weekend trip, there was no point in re-scheduling it. And I found myself in this unique situation where I was at home when I was not supposed to be so frankly speaking there was nothing for me to do because I wasn’t supposed to be here. And it was one of the best weekends I ever had because I had nothing to do.

A few years ago the concept of doing nothing would have been unthinkable if not outright terrifying. The idea of silence was not my cup of tea, but recently I have learnt to appreciate the quiet and no doing time. More so after I have progressed on my creative journey. Because silence is a must for things to arise. Silence can be of many types. Sometimes when I am reading an excellent book or watching an excellent movie, my mind takes that as silence because it is not just running around like a mad monkey – some of my best ideas have come right after finishing the video or the magazine.

In today’s world, there is a false sense of urgency – blame it on time, traffic or even media that keeps telling us that if we are not watching the news, we are missing something. Honestly, the world is not going to come to stand still if you just took a day-off. The sun will again rise, the earth will always keep spinning, and your fellow human beings will continue the work. For most of us, there is nothing in life that cannot wait a couple of days.

We can realize this when we stop and see for ourselves that nothing happened when we paused. And for most of us, it is hard to stop – to find that time. So we keep running afraid that if we stop something bad will happen. I still remember my childhood days of doing nothing when a simple walk around the block was one of the most adventurous trips of the day.

There are two sides to any coin. If you are working, then you need time when you are not working. This is true not only if you are in the creative field but also a professional area. All things in life need me time – the car needs maintenance, plants need night time to process the O2, this is why you put your laptop to sleep when you are not working. Why don’t we take a break? Yes, we sleep at night, but that is for the physical body. What about this mind that has been ruminating over things some real some imagined (mostly imagined) all day long?

Meditation is one way to provide some respite to the mind. Creative activities, doing nothing, nature walks are other ways.

What do you do to provide rest to your restless mind?