##### 🔑 We need Nothing > “The most valuable thing we can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of room, not try to be or do anything whatever.” > — May Sarton Just because not everything is junkfood doesn't mean constantly eating is a good idea. Likewise, we need breaks from stimulation itself. One of the reasons so many of our best ideas come to us while we're in the shower, on the toilet, or while [[👟 Walking]], is because these are rare moments when our senses aren’t overloaded with information and our attention isn't being externalized and manipulated. Historically, we humans have spent most of our time in quieter soundscapes, and we spent much more time with ourselves, with large gaps of time between one high-information or emotionally intense moment and the next. Our minds use those daydreamy, mind-wandery chunks of time when we have no goal or focus of attention to metabolize our experience and the feelings we have in response to them — to [[⭐️ Learning|Learn]] and [[⭐️ Integration|Integrate]], to develop new and interesting [[☀️ Creativity|☀️ creative]] ideas, epiphanies, and ah-ha moments. [[The Modern World]] is much noisier and much faster than it used to be. We have audio and video streaming, smartphones, tablets, handheld game consoles, noise-cancelling earphones, and waterproof bluetooth speakers. We have several screens that can satisfy nearly every impulse and then some, full of algorithmically-refined attentional hooks which steal, monetize, and control our [[⭐️ Attention]] for hours at a time which often has a direct influence on our choices. We’re exposed to emotionally provocative stimuli that activate our [[💡 Parts|Parts]] to such an extent that our [[💡 Protector Parts|Protector Parts]] may emotionally numb us. We’re also constantly being marketed to and given [[🛡️ Fixing and Advice Giving|🛡️ unsolicited advice]] about who we are, what we should do, and what we should want. We are so constantly surrounded by other people’s thoughts and ideas, which they more than likely got from elsewhere, that we become disconnected from ourselves. Our minds are full of thoughts which are not our own, and we end up living our lives and making important choices, even if we choose to do nothing, without any connection to ourselves. This leads us into feeling lost. A constant barrage of stimulation and information is also a [[Propaganda]] tool. If our minds are full of information about the way things are (regardless of whether that information is fact or fiction), there’s little to no space to imagine the way things *could* be or for our [[☀️ Creativity]] to arise. It’s important to stop doin’ stuff and come back to center. [[⭐️ Rest and Restoration]] and [[🕯️ Doing Nothing]] are paramount both in service of [[☀️ Creativity]] and for its own sake. We need to have large gaps of time when our attention is not externalized or directed. We need space to daydream in order for creative impulses to arise, for inner tangles to unwind and resolve themselves. Sometimes I don’t want to stop and do nothing because there’s so much something to do. But when I'm [[💡 Blending|wrapped up]] in [[💡 Parts|Parts]] and [[💡 Burdens 🪨|Burdens]] and when my attention is hooked I'm likely expending much more energy, and I'm probably spending it in ways that I wouldn’t choose to if I were to come back to center. To bathe in Nothing is to stop shaking the snow globe — allowing the snow to settle so that I can see and attend to what’s going on inside and re-connect with myself. We cannot pay attention to or even notice our [[⭐️ Needs]] or internal signals if our attention is always externalized. We can’t [[💡 Self-Intimacy|know ourselves]], we can’t [[⭐️ Self-Becoming|⭐️ Individuate]] if we don’t give ourselves our own attention and [[⭐️ Self-Care|⭐ Care]]. We can't even give ourselves, or others, care if we don't slow down to listen to what we need. Silence and non-stimulation are what allow us to hear our own voice, to sink into our [[⭐️ Body]], to notice our [[⭐️ Inner-Compass]] because we’re not being pulled around by external attentional hooks. It allows the foreground and the background to swap places for a time, and it's incredible what we can learn when we sit with ourselves and stare at a wall.[^1] Sitting with ourselves can be challenging for some of us, because the first thing that comes up inside is negativity or challenging emotions. But if we continue to loosen our grip and simply allow those feelings to be there, they empty themselves to give space for fresh ideas and solutions to emerge. It’s like all we’ve taken in needs to be digested or off-gassed like a backlog of emails. Other feelings need to be [[🕯️ Tending to feelings|🕯️ actively tended to]]. For some of us, especially those of us with a [[💡 Trauma|Trauma]] history, this can quickly become distressing or even [[💡 Overwhelm|overwhelming]] as something emotionally magnetic arises and we start to ruminate or get [[💡 Trigger|triggered]]. See: [[🧘 Mindfulness Meditation#The Hazards of Mindfulness|The Hazards of Mindfulness]]. - [[🕯️ Doing Nothing]] - [[🕯️ Journaling]] - [[🕯️ Meditation 🧘]] - [[👟 Walking]], [[👟 Hiking]], [[Forest Bathing]] - [[🕯️ Movement Practices 👟]] - Cleaning, organizing - Doodling - [[🧘 Practice With Me]] [^1]: No, really. I spent hours at a time staring at a wall for months. [^2]: Michael Easter - The Comfort Crisis