On the art of doing nothing

Source: Marianne Elliot

Yesterday someone asked me "When was the last time you spent time doing nothing?". Not nothing as in reading blogs, catching up on facebook, pottering in the garden or reading a book. But nothing as in absolutely nothing apart from introspective thinking. I scratched my head and thought long and hard. I cannot remember. Have I ever done this? I, like pretty much all the other mums I know, spend the day going from one activity to another, every minute filled. Even when I arrive at the garderie with 5 minutes to spare you'll probably find me making a list to fill the time.

So the idea of doing nothing but concentrating on thinking about nothing seems not even luxurious but totally foreign and somewhat self-indulgent.

However, I am getting signs from my body at the moment that I need a rest. And external signs like my 4 year old telling me yesterday "Mummy, you need to find some patience". He's right (sorry son).

Today I tried the yoga "corpse pose" while they napped. Trying to think about nothing but I found it very difficult to switch off. 

In the end I just fell asleep. Gah. Does that count?

I am going to give yoga another try though. I started a little bit last year with Marianne Elliot's 30 days of yoga. I'd never done it before and loved it. But then winter came and I went into marmotte mode and all good attitudes to exercise and eating went out the window. But spring is here and time to turn over a new leaf. Watch this space!