From the book Equilibrium: 31 Ways to Stay Balanced on Life’s Uneven Surfaces 

Our schedules are overloaded with duties. We are carrying too much luggage to board the planes of our relationships, our jobs, our lives. We need to push aside some baggage. We need to throw away a little litter. But we are reluctant. We hold on to the weight of our hurry. We stick with our scheduled agendas.

So, I am asking myself and asking you to change that. Now.

To begin making time and place for nothingness. To welcome nothingness as one of our dearest friends.

* Schedule times to do nothing.

These times of nothingness won’t come unless we plan them. Schedule time to do nothing. Write it on your calendar, however you write it. See it as a priority, however you see priorities. Think about Jesus leaving the crowd and resting with the Father. Think about Jesus napping on a boat. Think about Jesus sitting beside you and doing nothing—and see Him wanting you to join Him in doing nothing.

* Realize and address your tendencies to do too much or to do nothing for the wrong reasons.

It helps us, though it isn’t fun to find out why, to know the reasons we do what we do. And the reasons we feel obligated to do so much.

* View times of nothingness as moments of healing, not avoidance.

Yes, some people nap their lives away as methods of avoidance. They break all our other thoughts on equilibrium while still missing doing this one the right way for the right reasons.

This chapter isn’t denial. This suggestion isn’t escaping. This is stepping away from the hurried rush to be healed. To rest the body and the brain. To stop the tasks. To calm the storms. To be still and know.

Those moments when you sit beside your lover in comfortable silence. Those times when you sit beside your friend and need to not force any conversation. Those times when you sit alone and like it. Those moments when you sit beside Jesus and believe again.

Think about those moments.

Cherish them.

Chase them.

Create them.