The value of “Il Dolce Far Niente”

“Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing”, Lao Tzu

 

In the morning, we open the windows to let new fresh air come in the room. But often we do not reserve the same attention to oxygenate our mind. In Italian there is a nice expression to describe it: “il dolce far niente”, the sweetness of doing nothing.

Planning, productivity, performance are the key words that lead our days and the to do lists beat time, making little by little the ability of relaxing so distant from us that when we do not have duties, engagements or deadlines to respect we feel bad, fighting against a sense of guilt when our daily output is below the usual levels.

The “dolce far niente” has nothing to do with laziness or with being idler. It means to appreciate the present moment, do something because we WANT and not we MUST do it.

As the word that defines us says, we are human beings, but it seems that BEING is not anymore enough for us and that we are finding identity and definition of ourselves mostly in DOING.

I still remember a moment of some years ago, vividly printed in my mind for the clear emotional message that delivered to me: during an intense working period, while the necessity of switch off is really needed, I am finally laying on a sunbed by the swimming pool, with a book. I am restless, I read but my mind is far away, I swim and lay in the sun but the situation does not get better, I am not able to relax.

It was in that moment that I realized that finding a moment of regenerating relaxation, not only was no longer a natural habit for me, but not even actively looking for it, I was able to make it happen. I understood that relaxing is a practice with its own dynamics, and that thus I should have get started to learn and train it.

Walking around leaving the mobile phone at home and simply enjoying the landscapes, drawing and rediscovering the pleasure of manual and creative activities, watching a documentary, meditating, reading an article, rediscovering the power of a nap after lunch, … each one has its own modalities to abandon the schemes of the must do routine and give space and freedom to ideas, inspirations and projects to express themselves.

We need to learn to appreciate the emptiness, that often we try to fill in every possible way, to listen to our dreams, clear our visions, keep our mind open and especially break up with the idea that not having produced tons of emails or documents was a loss of time.

Discipline, deadlines and planning are vital supports to manage each project, not only a business one. Giving oxygen to the thoughts, freeing them from the bridles of the daily operations is the engine to keep alive creativity and intuition, at the basis of the quality improvement of each work.

It is most probable that we are surprised by one of our most innovative and original ideas while we water the plant on our desk than when we answer to the nth email of the day.

 

Photo Credits: Stefano Butturini