So you’re making time to go out to soak in your Hot Spring Spa? But will you take a break? Will you take a book, a report, notepad, self-help audio tape, your cell phone out with you?

But I’ll bet you won’t take a break. No you won’t. You’ll do something “productive”. Like filling your time up with mind clogging stuff. Are you prone to multi-task while relaxing? How about filling your hot tub break with idleness instead?

Yes, idleness. As in doing nothing. Yes, we know you’ve got a million things to do. But idleness can’t wait.

The western world in particular has forgotten what it means to be idle. To just sit and do nothing. Not read. Certainly not pick up the phone. Just sit and watch the world go by. You DO NOT have to fill your hot tub soaking time with things to do. It’s more beneficial to do nothing. As in N-O-T-H-I-N-G.

Can you let yourself soak in your Hot Spring Spa and do “nothing”? Try it. Just be lazy. Even the word lazy has a negative connotation. Appreciating nature is not being lazy. Watch butterflies or listen to birds. Gaze at the stars. But be idle.

Because as an ancient Chinese saying goes: Man who sits by river all day, and doesn’t think it’s a waste of time, is a wise man. Re-written as woman who soaks in hot tub and lets mind wander, is a wise woman who will be refreshed and live long.

Thanks to Psychotactics, New Zealand for the inspiration on the topic of idleness.

SANUM PER AQUA. Latin for Health through Water.