Greetings, dear readers. I know that title has given you some pause. We are a scant week from Thanksgiving and the ‘official’ start of the holiday season. There are lists to make and pies to bake and birds to baste and spare folding chairs to haul out of wherever they went … There is stuff and stuffing to be done. The last thing most of you are thinking about doing is nothing.

I’m going to encourage you to think about it. Just a bit.

I came across a lovely Spanish proverb sometime ago. It says “How lovely it is to do nothing, and then rest afterwards.” The first time I heard it I wanted to roll in it like catnip. Can you imagine? Just do nothing. And then rest from it. Holy couch potato, Batman. The fact that it sounds so odd and delicious tells you there’s something to it. Whatever would become of the world if we weren’t perpetually Busy holding it up?

Well, let’s find out, shall we?

Sometime today, for just a bit, stop. Don’t pick up the phone to check your messages or email. Don’t turn on the TV. Don’t go look something up on the internet. Let go of all doings and distractions. Give yourself some time to be in that place, in that moment. Put your feet up. Stare at the ceiling. Soak in that ‘nothing’. If you want, turn inward and notice your own self. Appreciate that who you are carried you through this day and you are here as proof and witness. Give yourself some time to turn outward and look around you. See – really SEE – how good your own table looks with all the faces you love around it. Smile at the dogs having a wiggle fest over a thorough petting from a friend. Notice the maple tree blazing away in your yard as if Martha Stewart herself chose it as a worthy accent piece. It wasn’t Martha – it was you, fifteen years ago, probably not really thinking of this moment. But here it is, a gift of the present moment. How sweet it is.

Let it be just that sweet. We’ll wait.

May your ‘nothing’ be a blessing.

Stay tuned for more on the Here’s a Quarter blog next week! As always, your thoughts and comments are always welcome – they are moderated (I know – adulting again), so they may take a little while to appear, but I read them all and appreciate that you were here. Thank you!

My story collection is available on Amazon: Dog Days . If you have a dog-lover who likes to read on your list, it may be just the thing! Chiquita is the cover model and I’d love to hear your thoughts if you check it out.

For those who remember last November’s crazy ride through NaNoWriMo – Yes, I am on board again this month. The current tale spinning itself is even wilder than the last one;  I’m just over 18,000 words just hanging on waiting to see where it goes.

SaveSave