Unlearning Busyness

My friend Nadia speaks with clarity, wisdom, invitation. It’s her painting above. From her post by this title, Unlearning Busyness. It just the right (and write) wisdom, joy, encouragement, artistry. Go read the whole thing. I’m gonna highlight a few bits of text that light me up on Tuesday.

One, I love it when a friend finds their groove. Nadia might have many grooves, but I love her words stroked together. Whenever someone finds simplicity that represents a whole lot of complexity — time for a cheer!

Busyness as habit. Yup, got that in me too. It’s pretty deeply ingrained for many of us. We make busyness noble. And feel shitty, sometimes, when we aren’t busy. Not noble. Argh!

Flashback to a recent facilitation. My buddy Glen and I hosted a 3-day retreat, in-person. Before lunch on the second day we hosted a “mini digital detox” (30 minutes). With some set-up and encouragement and some rules. The encouragement was to experiment with how full emptiness can be. Full in a different way. The rules — no phones, no devices, no emails. We encouraged people watching. Whatever form of empty.

For me, I walked in a circle of our circle (inside the hotel room. Probably 40 times (a slow 30 seconds ish per lap). Back to noble busyness — several times in my slow circle, I was teased by the productivity boss within me. I should take a picture of that flipchart. I should email my friend about what we are doing. I had to resist each time.

Unlearning busyness indeed.

A few more gems from Nadia’s piece.

• “getting-things-done reflex is inherited”
• “have to perform and produce to deserve joy”
• “choosing the canvas before the list is done”

And a bunch of others.

It’s mass discipline (maybe maturity too), to unlearn the busyness. I like my forets into that unlearning. It’s not so much about ignoring the lists. It’s just a bit more about freeing myself / ourselves from the tricks and traps, releasing the grip of obligation and worth, to find something a little more kind, joyful. These too, joy and kindness, it turns out, are pretty productive.