The Secret Power of Doing Nothing

 

There is something I am experiencing of late that is hard to describe because it is the best kept secret in our society… there is power in doing nothing. It is counter-culture for most of us.  And I get quite anxious if faced with doing nothing!  

For kids it means boredom, for me it means being useless and unproductive. The results are similar…we look for a solution.  We look for things to do….even in our spiritual search for peace and harmony.

Here is today’s wisdom: Our bodies store our angst, our stories. Our physicality has magic of its own. Our bodies carry God-given wisdom in places we do not know… until we do….!

You know that I believe we are all in process! Many of you know that I am passionate about learning how we humans develop from our first cry to our last sigh.  My personal library here at TSJ is full of great things about all aspects of our development. Things that can help us reparent ourselves, improve our relationships, and shepherd our children wisely.  I long to share this information in bite-sized digestible amounts, because I believe in its usefulness to all of us at all stages of development. 

So I rely on story and metaphor.  If I were a poet or musician, painter or sculptor I would use other mediums.

What is your preferred way of expressing the things that matter to you very deeply?

Today’s Story:

I am on a journey of healing that involves more than I “signed up for!”  How?

I have been seeing a holistic chiropractor for healing of chronic back pain.  That is what I signed up for.  I expected some education (which I have received), tips on exercises or ways I can help myself  “get better quickly” (which I have not received in ways I thought I would) and encouragement to do things to heal myself.

Hidden in those expectations is a strong part of my problem.  It is the problem of “doing” and of doing more when the first “doing” did not work. 

Amazingly, I am like the proverbial person who calls for help to get rid of a stench in the house.  The helper comes and agrees there is a stench and suggests it may be coming from the basement and we should go look.  Then the person seeking help adamantly says…”No, do not go into the basement!!  Just tell me how to get rid of the smell and I will do it!” Not really excited about the possible ugliness of what is in the basement and surely do not want others to see it. But how can we get rid of the stench without removing the source? 

A couple of weeks ago my doctor was working on several peoples’ neck, shoulder, back pains and gave each of them a suggestion about what to do during the week she would be gone. I listened and was last one to receive her final touch and waited for my message.  I was so anxious to get a piece of “how-to or what-to-do” advice I could hardly stand it.  

But when she was finished she just said her usual good by.

So I asked. “What do you suggest I do to help myself?

Her answer, “You? You..hmm….what I want you to do… is absolutely nothing. Just heal.”

Then she added, “Get lots of rest.”

“Great,” I thought. That was not what I had hoped for.  Do nothing? Are you kidding me?  That exposes what I learned as a child that was dangerous...the  danger of being l-a-z-y and u-s-e-l-e-s-s (meaning worthless). 

That, dear TSJ peeps, was the beginning of something I have yet to fully appreciate. But there are more stories. I am listening to body and heart. 

Most interestingly, for me, is how much “doing” effort I even put into seeking God and asking for gifts that are already here. 

My first simple step …listen to the body’s cry for rest.  It comes in many forms.

More sleep (even a little)  is a great place for all of us to start. Fifteen more minutes a night can make our bodies much happier and improve our relationships.  

I bet many of you can relate.  

Solomon is so happy.  He thinks he and Solomon Jr. (SJ)  will get more attention.  They already have.  

They say they are “Feelin’ the love” on this our day to play in the pastures of life!