3 tips to help you do nothing (and why you must) 3 tips to help you do nothing (and why you must)
Fabrice Midal
08 May 2019
We talk a lot about goals and outcomes – especially on a fitness journey. And goals are great. They give us purpose and help us measure our progress. But there is a downside to focusing purely on where you want to get to – we need to balance this focus on the future by being grounded in the present, and that's where meditation can help.
Many people find meditation difficult because they can’t ascribe a goal to it. The problem with ascribing a goal to meditation is that as soon as we do, we become tense: either we become stressed at the potential for failure, or we’re buzzed by this new challenge. Unfortunately, these mindsets can actively prevent the practice of meditating.
So if you’re finding it hard to start meditating, here’s the solution: do nothing. Absolutely nothing. Sit here and simply be present. That’s all.
It might sound like a radical idea – don’t look for anything, don’t have any plans. Just surrender and let meditation do what it is supposed to. Meditating is leaving perfection behind and finding confidence in the imperfect.
Easier said than done, no? Here are three tips to help you ‘do nothing’ in the right way, and start making meditation work for you.
1. Let go of ‘perfect’
Despite how natural meditation can be, I see a lot of people feeling frustrated and guilty about being overwhelmed by their thoughts and emotions during meditation. They want to instantly become the perfect practitioner: they can’t, and they get disappointed.
The idea of a perfect practitioner is wrong in the first place: meditating is actually about a total, calm acceptance of your situation as it is in this present moment. Your situation is made up of weaknesses, failures, doubts – as humans, this is how life is. We can meditate only if we agree to let go of our goals and ideals, to do nothing, to relate to what is here, and to open ourselves to life in a quiet moment.
Try a change of scenery to get into the 'do nothing' headspace.
2. Change the way you think about ‘nothing’
The fact that people can disregard meditation because it doesn’t have a measurable goal reveals our obsession to achieve something, to do everything with purpose. When we confuse restlessness and constant action with doing something beneficial, we don’t accomplish anything. We make waves, we do many things, but are we doing what’s actually important and helpful? Sometimes the most valuable thing is nothing.
But it has to be the right kind of ‘nothing’: sitting on a sofa watching TV or browsing Facebook isn’t doing nothing. We are actually really busy and we are afraid we will get bored the second it stops.
3. Treat it like training
Even if meditating is straightforward, it can be quite difficult. Meditation can bring you joy, but it’s not always fun. In that sense, meditation is the opposite of watching TV.
When we watch TV, we are totally absorbed. We forget ourselves. We don’t have to try at all. Time flies by.
When you practice meditation, you feel your body, you feel tension, you want to move. Staying in one position can even be irritating or a challenge. Silence makes us uneasy. Our mind spins like a top. We can’t stand it anymore. Emotions overwhelm us. Practicing meditation demands that we take all this in, be open to difficulties as they arrive and then let them go.
If you want to work on who you are, then let’s meditate – even for just a few minutes a day. Meditation is a different kind of behavior to what we are used to. When you meditate, there is nothing to do. That means there isn’t anything to achieve or fail at. Well, what a relief!
