We have heard of the popular saying - "An idle mind is devil's workshop". Many of us believe in this statement so strongly that we keep ourselves busy every single moment of our waking lives. Whenever we catch a break, we tend to reach out for our distractions, just so that we don't hear our voice inside. The few seconds of idleness, the few minutes of boredom, the few moments of uncomfortable feelings after being triggered by something/someone - we immediately grab our devices to distract our minds.
The problem is not with the idle mind but with the numerous thoughts that come and go inside it. Thoughts cannot be controlled, but how we feel can be.
Our minds can never be completely idle. It is always busy processing some thought or another. When we haven't brought a thought to closure, it keeps chewing on it even further. Especially those thoughts that triggered powerful emotional responses from us. That could be the reason why we believe in the saying and give a horrific name to it like a devil's workshop.
Do-nothing moments are essential to understand ourselves. I had earlier written about why we need to have these do-nothing moments in this post.
Initially, you might feel uncomfortable and fidgety but over time, you would start hearing the voice of your intuition, get answers to questions that have been troubling you for a while and reset your thought patterns. I'd highly recommend that you consciously allocate a few minutes here and there during the day, to sit quietly and do NOTHING. These do-nothing moments are not for meditation practice. It is okay if thoughts come and go. It is okay if those thoughts make you feel uncomfortable - sad about a past event, angry with or jealous about someone, uncertain about the future etc.
For the initial few days, just get into a habit to sit for a minute or two, doing nothing.
Once you become comfortable, try this five-step process during those do-nothing moments:
- Observation - how do I feel right now? What are the thoughts that are popping up in my mind right now?
- Awareness - Surface up one of the thoughts. Become aware of it completely
- Acknowledgment - Acknowledge this thought, show gratitude to your mind for bringing up this thought.
- Acceptance - Understand the emotions this thought triggered in the past or it is triggering now. Accept those emotions without judgment or guilt
- Questioning - Go deeper and ask yourself why these emotions are triggered by this thought. You may not get the answer right away but pose the question and leave it at that. Your mind will somehow bring the answer to the forefront when you are least expecting - either you will get the answer yourself or from someone else. When it happens, it feels like magic.
Embrace do-nothing moments. It will help you understand yourself much better.