Parents are always telling their children to sit still. While I’m not sure sitting still is good for children, I know it is good for adults. In our oh so busy lives, sitting still, like napping can seem counter productive, but it really has the potential to improve our health and overall outlook on the day and life itself. In mainstream society, most are praised for high energy and getting things done. You will likely hear, “wow, she does it all!” over “she is really good at sitting still”.
Luckily, this blog was not designed for the mainstream, so your mini-mission today is to sit still. Joshua Becker writes about practicing solitude at any given time by just finding a quiet place to sit for an extended period of time. Leo Babauta recently incorporated sitting into his morning routine. “You don’t have to meditate — sitting still, contemplating, taking in the world, is a beautiful thing.”
For this mini-mission, sitting still is not meant to be meditation, or a means to an end. In fact, the only rule is: don’t sit AND. Typically we sit AND eat, sit AND read, sit AND check email, watch a movie or anything else besides just sitting to sit. There is no time limit for this mini-mission or other requirement other than don’t do anything else while you sit.
To see if this habit works for you, try it in the morning. Wake up and drink water. Then, find a chair of your own and just sit still.
For more experiments to simplify your life, read Mini-missions for Simplicity. It’s available on the Amazon Kindle store, but you don’t need a Kindle to read it. Kindle books can also be read using the Free Kindle Reader App for your Web Browser, PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android.