You know the time when you start losing joy over everything that normally fills you up? When things don’t quite make sense anymore and you feel utterly uninspired? You lost the spark and excitement for everything you do. That’s how I’ve been feeling the past few weeks – deflated and derailed. And I thought – hey, maybe I need a break – an actual time of finding joy in simply being. Turned out, the non-striving part of mindfulness can be a challenge.
Why doing nothing can be a challenge
For most people who are constantly on the go and onto the next thing, it can be difficult to stop, calm the mind down. I am intentional about how I invest my time and energy, but I don’t find it difficult to sit in silence and do nothing – or so I thought. Turns out sitting down in meditation is not the same as finding joy in simply being on a daily basis.
After years of mindfulness practice, this is something I’ve only learned about myself recently. It looks like taming your mind in meditation doesn’t equal calm mind in other, seemingly non-demanding and enjoyable, endeavours.
Particularly when our flow – routine – direction gets disrupted. Embracing new reality takes time, figuring out how to approach it and adopt new mindset. It can be hard to accept that the smallest of events can have such a deep impact on us.
It can shake our momentum and have us question everything we’ve done until this point. And maybe that’s why it is hard to stay still and just enjoy life when we feel like we need to figure everything out right now.
Taking a step back to regain momentum
Sometimes all we need, when we can no longer connect to our vision and the things that once made sense, is to take a step back. Take our mind off it all and get new input from something that’s far removed from our ‘normal’.
Re-connect to ourselves, get a different view, generate the excitement again by engaging in different activities and talking to new people, for pure pleasure and no other reason. Not trying to create or force anything, just observe, attract and respond to our surroundings.
I created a space for myself by removing the pressure of planning – how can you plan anything when you lost your vision? But when an opportunity presented itself, I followed through – even with no motivation.
Removing the pressure of “no motivation” and allowing myself to do things with no agenda, just for fun, brought back the natural creative energy. It may not have been a full-blown vision straight away, but it sparked the life in me again.
Ditching the planning and going with the flow, happened to bring a friend into my orbit. Exactly what I needed at that moment, without even knowing. And it made me realise how important it is to be true to yourself. Because even when you hit the low, you now know that you have the right people around you – those that vibrate in the same energy field – and can remind you of who you are in case you forget.
Those who remind you what it felt like when you were excited about the challenges ahead. Those who talk about their values and remind you why you started your journey in the first place. Just by simply being themselves they reignite the spark in you.
Letting life happen
Despite all the determination and drive – even if we enjoy the work we do, the process of building and pursuing the future we want, we still need to nourish our soul. I am so used to everything in my life having its purpose that I really struggle to do things without agenda and find joy in simply being.
Even my meditations have a purpose – to train the brain, to calm down the thoughts, to teach myself be more present – more self-aware. Last weekend I intentionally dedicated part of the day to reading. Not a book club reading, not a title that would teach me something new or help me reflect. A simple novel one reads to disappear in somebody else’s story.
It was a challenge – the same way we tend to struggle in slow yoga classes and meditations. My mind was running all over the place thinking what I should or could be doing that would be more time efficient. And that’s just not right.
The thing is – even if we enjoy our work or go all in with our hobbies and side interests, there is usually a goal, an agenda, an expectation of what the effort we put in should bring us in return. And we don’t always get the results we hope for. Sometimes we also lose the momentum and excitement for the things we love. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Coming back to yourself
What helps though is if we can enjoy what is. Without constantly conquering the next milestone. Giving ourselves space to simply be and let things come to us. This includes inspiration, opportunities or relationships.
When we allow ourselves to slow down, stop chasing and find joy in simply being, we make room for things to unfold naturally. We realise that the spark we lost isn’t gone forever – it’s just waiting patiently in the stillness. We don’t always need to do more. Sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do is nothing at all. Disconnect from the noise, tune in with ourselves, and in that space, life finds a way to flow back in.
