The Joy of Doing Nothing

 Shirley J.    Adult Non-Fiction Self-Improvement     Breaking to clear your mind improves productivity

The Joy of Doing Nothing: A Real-Life Guide to Stepping Back, Slowing Down, and Creating a Simpler, Joy-Filled Life by Rachel Jonat      160 pages

This book offers the solution to stressful overcommitted schedules and lives - do nothing.  Sounds too simple, I know, but give the book a chance and you, too, will see there are gems of gold to be harvested here.  The author notes that we way too often say yes when we should say no to infringements on our lives.  We attend things we don't want to, we take on tasks we don't want to, we have more stuff to keep up with than we actually need,  we don't take care of ourselves like we should because we don't feel we have a minute to ourselves because we are pulled in so many directions.   Rachel Jonat says take a break.  Take a break and clear your mind.   Don't think about any thing, let your mind calm down and let it stop trying to think about and keep up with everything and nourish it with thinking about nothing.  That's right completely clear your mind.  Contemplate nothing, go dark like a robot that has been turned off.  Don't worry about all you have to do let yourself go completely blank every time you possibly can.   Let the soothing tranquility wash over you, no phones, no t.v., no technology, no distractions.   Feel how refreshed you feel after just a few minutes of calming mind rest.   You will find when you return to your task at hand you will be better able to focus and will be far more productive.  The more you do it the more relaxed and able to cope you will become and yes far more productive than hitting it hard for 8 hours straight.  In fact, one study found that the optimum levels are:  Work for 52 minutes on whatever you are putting your mind to then relax for 17 minutes by clearing your mind in a quiet space or allowing yourself the pleasure of only doing something that requires nothing or very little of you, some auto pilot type work/task, or quietly mentally zoning out while standing in line.  This can be done pretty much anywhere, anytime.   And its free but you will reap invaluable mental clarity and productivity from it.   Excellent tips and it works!   I recommend this to middle schoolers on up.  Learning to let go of technology briefly to gain greater focus benefits us all.