The Idle Life

As you can imagine, I’m a big fan of Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits blog. He and I see eye to eye on a lot of issues, though it’s unlikely he’ll ever convince me to become a vegan. I loves my bacon too much!

He just wrote an amazing blog post, called The Tao of Productivity, that goes hand in hand with my ideas of how to live an idle life but still be satisfied with what you get done.

Taoism has always had a special place in my heart, partially because it fits perfectly with being idle, but also because it reminds us that you can often accomplish more by “not-doing” and letting things take their course than you can by trying to do too much and ending up frustrated when things don’t go according to your plan.

When I start to think about all the stuff I don’t have, and all of the stuff I’d need to do to get it, I get stressed and unhappy. When I sit back and realize that I have an amazing life and would rather take time to appreciate all the great things I have right now, I feel relaxed, refreshed, and satisfied. Reading the Tao always seems to instill that same sense of peace and satisfaction in me.

If you want to learn to stop and smell the roses more often, and stop struggling so hard all the time, try reading the Tao. It’s so simple and such a quick read, but the ideas in it can really help you take stock of your life and learn just how satisfying doing nothing at all can be.