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When was the last time you did nothing? Have you ever thought about nothing? It may seem a strange and difficult thing to do, but now is the time to give it a try. January 16 was recognised as Nothing Day.
It first originated in 1973, when an American man called Harold Pullman Coffin got fed up with the number of appreciation and commemoration days that filled the calendar. So he created one more special day, but this one was to give people a day where they could just sit without celebrating, observing or honouring anything.
It's an idea that appeals to Dr Alastair Campbell from James Cook University's School of Psychology. "I think that idea is a really excellent idea. I think the idea of valuing being able to do nothing is good idea as well as recognising sometimes doing nothing is something that is worthwhile."
Dr Campbell says allowing yourself to do nothing from time to time is good for your mental state. "We spend so much time thinking about what we're going to do and trying to do things that we in fact don't live life - we live an ambition, if you like, and we don't actually exist in ourselves."
He says while it might be hard to achieve nothing in our daily lives, it's worth a try. "There is a meditative state which is popular these days in psychotherapy circles called 'mindfulness', which is a sort of trying to do nothing by not trying to actively think ahead. So, you're thinking of only being in the moment, trying to hold onto nothing, and not try to hold onto ambition."
"Just to slow down and stop and not try to achieve anything, or try not to focus on getting something done, it's better to blob."
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