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National Nothing Day, did you even know that was a thing? Well, it is and it is celebrated every year on 16th January.

Incidentally my son would heartily disagree with this premise because today is his 9th birthday and that is certainly not “nothing”! (If you had seen the excitement in his eyes at 5:50am this morning you would know that too!).

So what is National Nothing Day? Well, it’s an American holiday which, I have recently discovered, was created in 1972 by Harold Pullman Coffin as an antidote to all the stressful public holidays where we are expected to eat certain foods, perform particular rituals and celebrate with friends and family. Nothing Day is a day when we are all supposed to just chill out and just sit.

Nothing Day

Why am I even telling you about this little known national holiday?  

We will never be celebrating it as a national holiday, especially here in the UK. It does serve as a timely reminder of the importance of doing nothing though. After the chaos of Christmas and New Year what could be nicer than a day dedicated to just being? To sitting and appreciating just being alive.

 

 

I have had some timely reminders about control and rest since Christmas this year. We all had flu and then mine became bronchitis and I spent the end of 2017 and the start of 2018 in bed for the most part, able to do very little (you can read a little about the lessons I learned about being mindfully ill here.) As a mum that was hard. Especially since we were all ill. It is my “job” to care for everyone else. But I couldn’t.

Then last week the children went back to school and I had to work on another internal conflict. 

The familiar “I should be working” monster arrived on Monday morning. The problem was it took all my effort to get out of bed and get the kids to school, they had started with the flu before me so they were all better and I was still struggling with the tail end of energy failure.

But I knew I had to rest otherwise I would make myself ill again. It is alien to modern life. Sitting and allowing yourself to recover isn’t something we do easily.

What could be nicer then than a national holiday where that is the only premise?

[bctt tweet=”National Nothing Day is the perfect day to reflect on the wonders of the holiday season. To reevaluate our goals and resolutions for the coming year and just be. ” username=”KateBeddowUK”]

Sitting and just being present is the essence of meditation and mindfulness making National Nothing Day the perfect day to celebrate all things mindful.

I am fully aware that very few of us will have the luxury of being able to take a day to just sit and meditate today. Could you though find a little pocket of quiet time and meditate? Maybe you already meditate, why not take the time to reflect on the things you are grateful for today? This can be a challenging time of year for many in the northern hemisphere. The days are still short, the weather cold and the novelty of wearing woolly jumpers and boots is beginning to wear off and we are craving sunshine and warmth.

“You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day, unless you are too busy, then you should meditate for an hour” 

Zen Proverb

Today as I decorate my son’s birthday cake, prepare for his birthday celebrations this weekend and try to catch up on the back log of work I have on my desk I will be looking forward to the quiet bath I am going to have this evening to celebrate National Nothing Day.

Whatever you are doing today, banish all thought of Blue Monday with the joy of National Nothing Day. A day of self care and rest.

 

Thank you Harold Pullman Coffin for giving us permission to rest, to ponder and to appreciate the wonder of just being alive. 

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