Don’t waste your time, Do nothing as much as possible!
Photo copyright Suresh Gundappa 2007
Don’t waste your time too much
In desires and dreams
Stay still as much as possible
Love as much as possible
Out of silence action is born
Out of relaxedness Love is born
- poem by Suresh
Meditation is art of learning stilness is source of action. Meditation is learning art of action through silence. Meditation is knowing source of endless Love.
Love
Suresh
[...] wrote an interesting post today on Donât waste your time, Do nothing as much as possible!Here’s a quick [...]
Dear Suresh, this post reminded me of the following excerpt from a book (thanks to google). I was tempted to do nothing and not even post the comment here
but since I’m feeling pretty relaxed right now I thought let me post it anyway… 
ACTIVE INACTIVITY
by Joe Hyams, Zen in the Martial Arts
“When a problem arises in your life, don’t fight with it or try to deny it. Accept and acknowledge it. Be patient in seeking a solution or opening, and then fully commit yourself to the resolution you think advisable.”
- JIM LIU, Wing–Chung Martial Artist
Bronislaw Kaper, who introduced me to the martial arts more than two decades ago, introduced me to another interesting notion - consciously doing nothing. Bronny is courtly, elegant, and a gentleman in the European style. Born in Poland and educated in Warsaw and Berlin, he was a junior sabre champion by the age of eighteen and is still considered one of the best sabre-men on the West Coast, even though he is now in his late sixties.
One day I telephoned him to see whether he was available for lunch. “Sorry,” said Bronny, “but this is my day for doing nothing.
I protested, “But lunch is not doing anything but eating.”
Bronny laughed. “If I made a date for lunch with you, dear boy, I must do something and today I do nothing.”
“Explain, please,” I said.
“In our lives today, we don’t leave room for empty spots, for doing nothing. This concept of doing nothing, which has nothing to do with just not doing something, is also an activity and an exercise.
“Compare doing nothing to a pause in music. A pause is not a lack of music, it is an integral part of the composition. If a conductor does not hold a pause to its full value, it is like cutting into the flesh. As Claude Debussy has said, `Music is the space between the notes.’ The masters of good phrasing, like good martial artists, are men who pay as much attention to pause and silence (nonaction) as to action.”
Bronny seemed to be saying that meaningful pause allowed one I u take stock of where one was. The next time I saw Bruce Lee, I told him of my conversation with Bronny.
Bruce laughed and said, “He’s right, you know. That pause in the middle of action is one of my secrets, too. Many martial artists attack with the force of a storm without observing the effect of their attack on their opponent. When I attack, I always try to pause-stop action - to study my opponent and his reactions before going into action again. I include pause and silence along with activity, thus allowing myself time to sense my own internal processes as well as my opponent’s.”
Years later, long after Bruce had gone to make films in Hong Kong, I finally understood how important this “stop action” was to his art. Most martial artists use a set pattern of techniques repeatedly. But Bruce was never locked into a routine. He was, in a sense, constantly conducting an environmental impact report on his own activity - pausing to assess, adjust, and correct according to the demands of the situation. He never allowed his opponent to dictate his actions. Instead, he forced his opponent to react to him, pausing frequently to regroup and reform his approach.
Recently I found a way to fit this abstract idea of “stop action” into my life. For some time I had allowed my work schedule to pattern my life. Then one day I was overwhelmed by the pressure. I realized that there was a parallel with my experiences on the mat when engaged in a bout with an overpowering opponent. During such a bout, I often heeded Bruce’s words and paused to regroup and then attempted to take the initiative. Why wouldn’t this method work with my present problem?
Despite all the pressures, I decided to take a day off, a pause during which I planned to do nothing, and study the situation. The pause worked wonders for me. I assessed my predicament, settled on a future course of behavior, and decided that I would take the initiative in determining my own life schedule. I had discovered that doing nothing can sometimes be more important than doing something.
~ Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
Thanks Sanjay, recently one of my friends commented to me on mail that I should write my blogs regularly so that she can read your comments. She felt your comments are better than my blog,
Thanks Sanjay as always it’s pleasure to read and learn from your comments,
Suresh,
So many posts to read on.. Splendid.
This one brings a lot in itself, doing nothing… I think we are tuned to doing nothing only when we have off from work otherwise its implicit that we plan our activities and as Sanjay mentioned in his comment his work driving his day…
and Sanjay, I think you should write some guest posts on suresh’s blogs instead of these long comments ! good work people.
heh heh well reader’s comments including mine are only ripples caused by the flowers (your posts) throw at us!
Actually one thing maybe worth noting… being a novice attempted-meditator my practice isn’t really consistently every day. And in the off-days, these pages are mostly just pretty pictures and poetic words. But during the days when atleast reasonable degree of consistency is there, the same words have so much depth - and I’m able to actually see them getting automatically applied in my day-to-day life and adding so much value! Really meditation exactly as you have elucidated in these pages (and more importantly its application in simple ordinary life making the same refreshingly extraordinary) is so vital Suresh - and your posts have inspired my wife and me immensely (we often discuss about them) to practice more sincerly. These posts are a reminder there is so much more in human potential - even our entire lifetime is so little, it gets over as its said ‘like a flash of lightning’! Every single moment is so precious!
A nice quote I’ve come across on meditation…
- Ven. Henepola Gunaratana
Veena, thanks for your suggestion but I think its better Suresh’s site gets more and more visitors (than other way round if I write any page here
! ) Btw to clarify, what I’d posted earlier here was excerpt of the book.
Fantastic blog,
The photos are incredible and the words very peaceful and meditative indeed.
Light and peace, Maithri
thats true , click what you see else you will never get what you have seen .
Hi Suresh,
Loved the twist of logic! I am trying to take time out of the day to do nothing! Actually, I am finding some new ways to use my time efficiently. To make my “doing-nothing” time more effective, I am trying to understand auto circadian meditation
at http://www.meditationhome.com
As busy moms with full time jobs both at home and work, we get so little time for ourselves. If tweaking our Bio-rhythms is the answer, so shall it be!
Thanks for your wonderful articles; they offer a new perspective on everything!
Maya