Doing nothing isn't a waste of time

Doing nothing isn't a waste of time
(by Jill Alphonso)

This is the title of an article I came across in mypaper, issue 20 April 2010.
The following is an excerpt towards the end of the article:

Freeing yourself of things to do, people to see and meet, and essentially utterly clearin your schedule can turn out to be an almost-spiritual thing, if you use your time right.

Zen masters, for example, exhort being "of no mind". Meaning, allowing thoughts to come - but pay them no mind.

Be still, be silent, be present.

The benefits are huge, - you turn your awareness inwards, and you get to rediscover yourself without the things that you imgaine define you.

In other words, you get some space, some breathing room. You get to just be.

The author is an editor in her 30s. In her article, she shares how burnt-out she has become by filling her hectic schedule with various pursuits.

She mentioned, "It seems that once we're done with our 20s, we enter jobs with greater responsibilities. We settle into relationships and routines. Strapped for time, we plan our free time and our weekends as if we're going through a military drill."

I'm in early 20s. I can't wait to enter a hectic life like hers 'cause only then will life be fulfilling. It doesn't matter if it's tiring, so long as it's enriching.

Of course, this is a statement made while I'm still one entire decade away from 30s. It's always the pasture looking greener on the other side. When we're young, we're eager to grow up. When we're young adults, we're desperate to possess the earning powers of adults. And sometimes, we look back and wish in the same eagerness that things would go back to the simplicity when we were young.

Still, I'm all geared up to enrol into a busy lifestyle, filled with pursuits of passions and efforts for future. Anyway, I have been laid back for too long. It's definitely time to live life with a burning desire again!

In the process, I will constantly remind myself of the to devote time to the precious jewels I have dug up over the decades I have lived. I still believe that relationships can be timeless, but they need timely irrigation by both parties to actualise.

Not to forget the gist of the article - to devote sufficient time for myself, rest and relax.

A well-balanced lifestyle is my long term goal!