Have you ever "done nothing" - and enjoyed it?

So well I remember the summers of my youth, when I just couldn't wait to do - nothing! I would dream of late mornings, time at the beach, a good book or two and the occasional company of a good friend - but never two! How well my mother remembers my cries of boredom!

Oh, what we would give for a moment of boredom today! Or would we?

Do we ever allow ourselves the luxury of "empty moments". Time alone, for ourselves... with no agenda, no demands, from others - or from ourselves. When we do, do we enjoy them? Or do we become "bored"? Do we panic ...thinking of all that we should be doing, seeing, being? Do we flee from ourselves, turning outward - running for phones, friends and "fun". How often are quality time and quality life crowded out by meaningless activity?

It's rather like freedom. We all say we seek it. Yet any one of us who has gone through a total change in life may well remember the sense of having no path, no guidelines, no boundaries - feeling anything but free. Those times often encourage us to go inwards, to find answers. They become times of insight and renewal, allowing us to discover who we really are and what we truly want.

I don't know what it's like around your house right now. If it's anything like mine, there's a mad rush to get everything "just so", so that we can "take time out" over the long week-end.

Will we? You bet! After all, it's only when we are truly relaxed and unstructured that our minds are open to insight, innovation - and perhaps even creativity.

So. Why not indulge yourself. Take some real time out...waste some idle moments at the lakeside soaking up the scenery; spend time in a field, flat on your back listening to the buzz of the bees; drive with the top down, the sun on your face and wind in your hair; mindlessly meander the meadows; lose yourself to music's magic.

Who knows, you might even enjoy it!