A few years ago, my biggest fear was of being bored. I used to travel often during that phase of life, and the first things I would pack were books and a fully charged and loaded MP3 player. Never would I leave home without those. Railway stations, Airports, in transit, while waiting for people, in hotel rooms, I had plan A, plan B, and often even plan C to keep myself occupied. Now we have mobile phones coupled with awesome data plans and easily available Wi-Fi doing all of the above tasks, and tons of apps to keep ourselves engaged and entertained. So much so that we have successfully lost the ability to do nothing.
Look around. Everyone is busy. Constantly busy. We grow restless if we have nothing to do. If bad weather affects TV transmission, we instantly move to our phones (that is, if we’re not already handling both simultaneously). As the battery drops to orange, we whip out the battery device and connect it. While on a journey, we find seats beside a charging point and hoard external battery juice like a treasure. At offices, we languish in front of that computer screen for hours together. Long after the day’s work has been done. Waiting for something to do — a mail or a ping on a chat, refreshing sites and mailboxes compulsively. Browsers are open with a dozen tabs, and Facebook, Twitter, and Whatsapp are like our Oxygen. Out of 10 hours spent at the office, the actual work we manage to do could be done in probably an hour or two. An incredibly productive day would be 4 hours! We are busy, eyes watering, carpal tunnels hurting, headaches suppressed with unending cups of coffee, lower backs screaming for relief. All day long we’re busy. To ensure we stay busy, we make arrangements. Anti-glare glasses, additional packs of coffee powder in case the machine runs out (with green tea bags in our desks as back up), a back supporter on our chair, wireless external keyboards and mice for that bit of extra distance from the monitor. We are busy, doing nothing much. But we’re busy. Because we don’t know what to do if we leave the office early.
At 4 pm the roads are empty. We can reach home in 20 minutes instead of the usual 90. But no, we don’t head out because we don’t know what to do if we go home! We look forward to weekends, and then fill it with the same activity again! The same tabs are on our phones and tabs. Laptops stay open, and thanks to technology, the tabs pick up from where they were left off the previous day; in the same order. Or we talk on the phone. For hours together, one call after the other. We tell ourselves that we’re connecting with people and rekindling relationships, while the truth is we’re just keeping ourselves occupied. With the TV on, and the laptop, we talk on the phone doing justice to none of them. Till its time to eat and sleep. Once in a while, we do manage to do something nice and creative. And then we head online to share those pictures and experiences with others like us and to feed the frenzy of already cluttered timelines. Come Sunday afternoon, we begin to worry about the week ahead, while the truth is we will pretty much do the same thing all over again. The same tabs will remain open, and time will fly away. The accelerator to our pace of life is constantly pressed to the floor. Relentless. It becomes busier and busier, without doing much! We are seldom involved in the task at hand, but we’re busy. So busy that people who care for us actually empathise with us and use us as an example to tell their kids! Look how busy he is!!
And then we talk about retirement! 😂
We have lost the ability to stay peaceful for a couple of hours, just enjoying doing nothing. What will we do with all of the time at our disposal if we well and truly retire! Its just a fad. Most of us would go crazy if we retire. By ‘retire’, it should genuinely mean slowing down the pace of life and relishing each moment. Not just replacing those office Google Sheets tabs with YouTube, Whatsapp, and Netflix! Most people do just that. 8 hours spent at the office become 12 hours spent in front of TV screens and newspapers, and the number of hours spent on mobiles further goes up! If the definition of retirement is understood as mentioned above, one can retire at any time! Retirement should mean freedom. Not replacing one set of psychological shackles with another. Which is why many people dread retirement! After 40 years of work, not knowing what to do is a real fear. It isn’t something that can be resolved through a 4 hour ‘How to retire gracefully’ seminar organised by the company for all retiring employees! It is something which should be taught to us from when we’re children. We’re brought up on a philosophy that busy people are successful people. Relatives who’re seldom seen in functions because they’re apparently very busy are made heroes out of! Folk lugging their computers everywhere and adorned with bluetooth headsets are used as role models in comparisons when giving lectures to kids. Being at school from 7 am to 9 pm is considered to be the only way to succeed at life. If a parent chooses a college that ends at 2 pm for his child, he is a pariah! And then many many years later, suddenly there are too many hours to fill. Like nature abhors a vacuum, our mind wants constant engagement. It’ll keep pestering us to keep the senses occupied. Continuously, relentlessly. While awake and asleep. Then we attend a series of lectures on Vedanta from a Swami, and suddenly want to change ourselves to live in the moment. No wonder most people are caught up in a fake Vanaprastha. Just look at the number of Whatsapp groups retirees are a part of! Creative names too — Vedanta Online, Sadhana Unlimited! Daily a zillion messages come through on those, and people yet again are busy. In the pursuit of calmness!!
It is not easy! Being happy while doing nothing is a great skill. It takes years of practice to master. Our minds have almost forgotten the ability to stay calm. We don’t need guided meditation apps on our phones. That’s an additional bloody nuisance! In a previous post on this blog, I wrote about work being a great joy. Work doesn’t end. It just changes form. When in retirement, the pace and pressure are meant to change. Not stopping work altogether. Or more importantly, the absence of active work shouldn’t affect our wellbeing. If there is work to be done, we do it. Else, we just stay aware and do nothing, or do whatever we want to without feeling guilty about it. Doing nothing is an awesome thing! Great masters do nothing and everything at the same time! They tried to teach us that through the way they lived their lives.
Just stepping back and seeing the world pass by, without contributing to the chaos unless is necessary is the true way to live life. It is the greatest of sciences and Vedanta aspires to teach us just this. Our ancestors knew this secret. They lived contented lives in their villages through their professions and community, without the additional dozen devices we carry around today to keep us occupied. Being at peace with ourselves in the absence of activity has become difficult because of the clutter we fill our lives with. But being able to achieve that balance is hugely rewarding. Watching the lullaby of waves in a sea, or the majesty of mountains, the hugeness of a desert, or the pitter-patter of falling rain, nature has given us ample resources. Sitting in front of one of them is the easiest and most joyful way to practice doing nothing. The reward is that we come out immensely rejuvenated and being able to accomplish much more in the work that we choose to do. There is nothing to be bored of anymore in life! Work when it needs to be done, and once done, move away from it. Yet another thing our ancestors knew, which we have forgotten in our pursuit of advancement 🤦🏻♂️.
