During your busy day do you ever search for time to do nothing? With all of us rushing about to find our mask or sign on to the next Zoom meeting, we take little time to enjoy a mental break. Doing nothing for a while, staring off into space, can actually make us more productive. While you are looking at a beautiful sunset or studying the violets blooming outside your patio door, your brain scurries to do some important clean-up activities. Our brains use this down time to sharpen our learning skills and memory resources. The experts recommend periodically ‘doing something mindless.’

How? Here are some ideas:

• Take a walk (minus your Fitbit) and relish the silent stroll that links you to Mother Nature. Enjoy the grand meander rather than getting those 10,000 steps.
• Cook your favorite comfort meal—the one that has downtime—a perfect opportunity for a sip or two of your favorite wine. Tell yourself ‘this is the sweetness of doing nothing.’
• Take advantage of a habit already ingrained in your day. Enjoy a swim in your pool, a leisurely shower, or look out your window and become a bird watcher.
• Is it nap time? While you sleep, you may be breathing slowly in a favorite comfortable chair but your brain is busy. Rest is one of the best ways to “enhance the neurological flexibility to build the kind of conceptual understanding that is related to identity and purpose.” Whew! That from Mary Helen Immordino-Yang.

So, ditch that guilt and start doing nothing.