Rest
The art of doing nothing (on purpose)
Idle time isn't wasted time. It might be the most restorative hour of your week.
The Dutch have a word for it, niksen, which means doing nothing, deliberately. Not meditating, not scrolling, not 'relaxing productively'. Just being idle and letting your mind wander wherever it likes.
It feels uncomfortable at first. Many of us are so used to filling every gap that ten empty minutes can feel like a failure. But letting the mind wander is where ideas surface, worries settle and the day gets digested.
Start small. Protect one unscheduled window each week and put it in your calendar if you have to. Sit by a window, lie in a hammock, watch the clouds. If you end up doing something, that's fine too.
Try the ritual
- Choose one 15-minute window this week and call it 'nothing'.
- Put your phone in another room.
- Sit somewhere with a view: a window, a garden or a park bench.
- Afterwards, note one thought that drifted by.
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