The Importance of Being Lazy
/In a society that values hustling, being on the go, being driven and having direction, there is no space for lazy. Lazy is considered to be a negative thing. When I go online, the definition of the word says the following: ‘unwilling to work or use energy’.
I’ll tell you what, I am most productive when sitting in stillness, or just doing nothing, than when I am forcing, pushing or making me act on something. It’s where most of my creative ideas come from. They come from doing nothing, or not much. When I push and force myself to ‘do’ I tend to more easily get stuck in life. When I get stuck, I get frustrated. When I get frustrated, all that happens is a very unhappy Pelagia.
There is a time for everything. Because once an idea starts forming, there will be a time for ‘doing’.
However, being on the go all the time, ‘doing’ all the time, leads to burn out. It leads to feeling like you are on a hamster wheel. It is an illusion. You think you are being really productive, you keep going and ticking your list of things to do, yet where is your joy? Where do you derive your pleasure from? Is your ‘doing’ sustainable? Are you able to keep going and going, producing more and more and feel like you can do this forever? Does your soul sing?
What if you were to take time in your week to do nothing? Create space that is just for you and with no aim whatsoever? I bet the word lazy would eventually turn up. I say: let it! I say: stay with it! Allow yourself to just BE. Commit to being lazy. I wonder what magic would come out of it?
I feel that at some point, the scales tipped a tad too much for the lazy/flow side in my life. The thing is, I needed healing (I still do). Healing takes time and cannot be rushed. Healing is often not about ‘doing’ and more about ‘being’. I felt guilty many many times. I forced myself to ‘do’ over and over. At certain points, my body had no energy and I was forced to loads of time of stillness. I can see now, that it was the only way for me to allow myself to just be and for the healing that was needed to take place. Most importantly, my body was talking to me and telling me what I needed to do. It was guiding me. It was teaching me to listen to it and to understand the importance of stillness. It was showing me the importance of being lazy.
When you slow down, things change. Time extends. When you learn to allow yourself to go into this lazy mode, you start noticing more. It gives you the opportunity to listen to your thoughts, to notice the patterns within your thoughts. It gives you the opportunity to notice the things around you.
Have you tried to go for a really slow walk in nature? Try both going on a brisk walk and then going for a really slow walk. Allow your body to dictate the speed, for your eyes to fully open and for your whole being to connect to the environment around you. It’s magical. Things just start standing out.
When you slow down, it is easier to listen to all your thoughts. This is a very scary prospect, and I know a lot of people that keep on doing and doing in order to avoid listening to what is being repeated, over and over in their heads.
When you slow down, you get to listen to all those negative thoughts, they become louder. If you persist in this lazy practice, you will start noticing thought patterns, noticing what type of thoughts arise, what are they saying, if there is a theme.
Eventually, amidst those scary thoughts, you might start getting glimpses of different thoughts. Maybe those things that you think you never have time to do or think start popping up. The ones that get you excited. New ideas. New ways of thinking.
All of this requires commitment and self-permission. Committing to the practice of being lazy. Giving yourself permission to be lazy. You certainly have my permission to do nothing, if that helps.
There will be lots of thoughts of all the things you could be doing with your time that would be more productive. Write them down and then go back to your lazy moment. Your lazy hour maybe, or your lazy day. And if you feel really adventurous, your lazy week.
I dare you. In particular if you live in a city, where I feel that the pressure to ‘do’ is much bigger.
I dare you to be lazy.
I dare you to find time in your week to be lazy.
And if you want to learn more about what I have learnt from my lazy practice and how it can benefit you and your life, get in touch.
This text was written a few weeks before the whole world came to a halt. I was afraid of publishing it and being judged by it. There are a few more posts I am afraid of posting in my unpublished folder . I have decided to bring them out into the open.
Pelagia Pais is an Intuitive. She offers Intuitive sessions that include many of the gifts she has uncovered in herself in the last few years. She is a writer and an artist, and you can read more of what she writes in her blog ‘It’s not all happiness and coconuts’.
If you are looking for a morning routine to help you ground your energy in yourself, be more present and start the day feeling calm and centred, check her Morning Star Practice - A Standing Guided Meditation here: www.pelagiapais.com/shop. The practice is available in different prices that suit all pockets and is a form of contributing to her work and continued offerings.