<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will break the bow if you keep it always bent\u201d (Greek Proverb).<\/p>\n
IN A WORLD WHERE \u201cMANAGING MULTIPLE PRIORITIES\u201d HAS BECOME A SURVIVAL SKILL, WE FIND OURSELVES CEASELESSLY BUSY. Rarely do we relax, and even when we do, we book a time slot for it in our day planners, as if relaxation were simply another item to check off our agendas. Plainly, we are a driven people. But what is it that drives us? Whatever it is (and truthfully, there are dozens of different possibilities), we need to be exceedingly careful these days. Unrelieved activity will kill us. The bow will break if it\u2019s always bent.<\/p>\n
Is it productivity we\u2019re concerned about?<\/em> There are doubtless many good things to be done nowadays, but those who know the most about real productivity understand the need for adequate downtime. Relaxation doesn\u2019t take away from our productivity; it adds to it. Winston Churchill said, \u201cI found I could add nearly two hours to my working day by going to bed for an hour after luncheon.\u201d<\/p>\n Do we feel guilty when we\u2019re doing nothing?<\/em> I remember a conversation years ago with the girl who ended up graduating with the highest academic average in our college class of several thousand. She had dropped by my apartment one afternoon, and greeted me with the usual, \u201cHi, whatcha doing?\u201d When I said, \u201cNothing,\u201d she was aghast! \u201cDon\u2019t you feel guilty?\u201d she said. \u201cNot at all,\u201d I replied, and I went on to introduce her to the concept of \u201ccreative inactivity.\u201d I believed then, and I still believe today, that we need to get over the idea that relaxing by doing nothing is morally wrong. Having worked, we need to relax.<\/p>\n It\u2019s certainly true that doing something different<\/em> is often the best way to relax. Anatole France went so far as to say, \u201cMan is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.\u201d I\u2019m not sure we can only find relaxation by taking up another kind of labor, but even so, France\u2019s general point is well taken.<\/p>\n I\u2019m still confident, however, that there are times when it\u2019s not only not wrong to do nothing, but nothing\u2019s the most beneficial thing we can do. And if we can\u2019t ever \u2014 at any time, under any circumstance \u2014 bring ourselves to do that, we need to ask ourselves, \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cHe does not seem to me to be a free man who does not sometimes do nothing\u201d (Cicero).<\/p>\n Gary Henry \u2013 WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com<\/p>\n