By now it should be quite apparent that I love TedxTalks of the self-help variety. Whether it’s Shawn Achor talking about how to live a happier life, or Dan Pink talking about motivation and productivity, I love hearing all the ways I can fix the simple things that I’m probably doing wrong. This TedxTalk is another self-help talk of sorts, filled with such obvious simplicity that I can’t fathom why I didn’t think of it first. #LeSigh
Mindfulness expert and former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe starts by asking,
“When did you last take any time to do nothing? Just 10 minutes undisturbed…”
And when he says nothing he really means nothing. No texting, emailing, eating, reading, planning for the future or reminiscing about the past. As predicted, most everyone can’t think of a recent time they set aside specifically do nothing (if ever). Andy goes on to present the idea of ’10 Mindful Minutes’ a day set aside solely for doing nothing (it rings similar to Shawn Achor’s suggested daily meditation). The way he puts it:
“We’re talking about our mind. The mind – our most valuable and precious resource. Through which we experience every single moment of our life… And yet we don’t take any time out to look after it. In fact we spend more time looking after our cars, our clothes, and our hair… The result of course is that we get stressed.”
By setting time aside to do absolutely nothing, we allow ourselves to be happier and more present. Studies show that we spend almost half of our time lost in thought or distracted which results in stress and ultimately causes us to be unhappy a good amount of the time.
Andy continues the talk with a deeper explanation of how to utilize those 10 minutes best, and what we can expect to get out of them. So, consider watching this nine minute TedxTalk, and follow it up by 10 minutes of meditation that you won’t regret.
Think people should hear about this?