SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Do nothing for two minutes

Feb 3, 2011, 2:34 AM | Updated: Mar 28, 2011, 3:46 pm

Doing nothing for a couple of minutes – is that a challenge? That can’t be very difficult.

Do you have any time to relax during the day? I spend my days researching stories, writing blog posts, thinking about work, tweeting, responding emails, and if my kids are lucky I’ll actually remember to make them dinner. I’m happy. I like accomplishing stuff. Everything’s fine.

Until…

Someone (usually Mr. Thomas) points out that I seldom “just chill” anymore. Not true! I’ll show him. I sat down with the intention of doing absolutely nothing for 10 minutes. I looked at the clock yesterday and proclaimed, “I’m going to relax until 1:00.” Maybe 40 seconds later I was reaching for my iPhone to check email, which led me right back to work. Maybe he’s right. Don’t tell him I said that.

I stumbled on a challenge that’s been going through Facebook – do nothing for two minutes. There’s a web page to help with this challenge . This is my kind of meditation. I can certainly do nothing for two minutes.

Well…

I received a red “fail” within a few seconds because I moved the mouse.

Nothing

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Do nothing for two minutes