Nothingness

We join spokes together in a wheel,

But it is the center hole

That makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot,

But it is the emptiness inside

That holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house,

But it is the inner space

That makes it livable

We work with being,

But non-being is what we use.

(Lao Tzu)

   

This week in "The Joy Diet" we have been working on doing nothing for 15 minutes everyday. The doing wasn't the difficult part, it was silencing the mind.

How hard can it be to just focus on breathing? I breath every single day without thinking about it and the moment I want to concentrate on it my mind flits all over. After a couple days of this I decided to show myself compassion.

Somewhere in my chattering mind the thought came how difficult it is to go from an active mind to a still mind isn't a logical progression. Everything in the natural world happens in stages. From day three on I decided instead of silencing my mind, I would observe it in the process of quieting down. There is such a beauty in the layers of the process and unveiling.

I also chose as my focal point a flower instead of my breath. This calmed my mind so I could observe the unfolding of quieting.

 (Photo by Per Svangren)

I think,perhaps, there is also a myth that to do nothing means emptiness. I've discovered that all of the items in my mind are still there but I have created space around them. They have now taken on a different perspective, like viewing a bird from afar and seeing it up close.

As each item in my mind takes on less importance silence comes and is welcome.