Just Have Fun With It!

THe Joy Diet: Nothing

Week 1 of The Joy Diet: Do Nothing for at least 15 minutes a day.

I knew this one would be a challenge, because I've tried it before.  However, it is now years later: I've evolved, right? I'm a life coach who encourages all my clients to develop a "reflective practice;" I tell them that this time is essential self-care.

So how did I do? 

Not very freakin' well! I've discovered that it's a lot easier to talk about the benefits of doing nothing than it is to do nothing. Just like my clients report, I find it very difficult to really do nothing. I get all anxious about the stuff that is not getting done and I feel guilty.  Now, there were times last week when I did do nothing (I was on vacation) but it was not an intentional nothing. Does that count?

Attempting to Do Nothing has also triggered my perfectionist switch in a big way:

• I fail at Doing Nothing if it is less than 15 minutes
• I fail at Doing Nothing if I am not absolutely still (mind & body)
• I fail at Doing Nothing if I skip one day
• I fail at Doing Nothing if I don't notice an immediate benefit
• I fail at Doing Nothing if even when I manage to not do anything, I feel guilty about it

So here's what I'm going to do:

• Focus on the successes more (for example, I did schedule time every day to do nothing -- blocked it out on my calendar)
• Allow myself to do nothing imperfectly
• "Be with" the guilt and let it teach me the lesson it wants to teach

Next week is Truth; sounds scary but for me, easier than the Nothing exercise. Of course I will continue to master Nothing over the next week too. Oh! I almost forgot! I like Jaime's suggestion to make vision cards. I might try my hand at that too.

Your thoughts?

The Joy Diet Book/Reading Club

I must confess; I'm a little late to the party, but here I am now! (I had an excuse -- out camping for the last two weeks).

Buy The Joy Diet here.

I'm joining with a LOT of other bloggers in a group project called The Next Chapter, where we read through Martha Beck's The Joy Diet, and post our thoughts each week (on Fridays) It's lead by Jaime Ridler, a Co-Active Coach for creatives. You can read more about the group -- join us if you wish by clicking here.

The book jacket describes The Joy Diet as "a menu of ten behaviors you can add to your way of living and thinking to enhance every day's journey through the unpredictable terrain of your existence."

Whew! Sounds like something I could benefit from! Actually I bought this book years ago because I had read another of Martha Beck's books and found it very insightful, easy to read and useful. But as with many good intentions, the book found its way to my bookshelf unread. Well to be perfectly honest, I started reading it years ago -- and the very first behavior: Do Nothing for 15 minutes a day -- stopped me in my tracks. I wasn't able to do it, and the book makes it clear you need to master this step before you move on to the next one. So on the bookshelf it went. I'm thinking with some group accountability (don't we coaches just love accountability?) I'll be better able to stay on track and actually finish implementing all ten behaviors.

Our first "real" post -- on our experiences with Doing Nothing are due tomorrow. How did I do this time around? You'll have to wait and see when I post tomorrow!

Don't forget you can join in the fun (and joy) yourself if you blog, or you can just follow my progress at this blog. Wishing you all much Joy!