The Spiritual Practice of Doing Nothing

A poll of our readers once indicated that the three kinds of rest most challenging for them to experience were spiritual, emotional, and mental. Out of 67 responses, 10 replied that spiritual rest was easiest for them, two replied that emotional rest was easiest, and a whopping zero replied that mental rest was easiest. I’d like to offer some thoughts on how we might attain these three most elusive kinds of rest.

For many of us, when we talk or think about rest, we equate it with doing nothing. This can trigger a familiar inner reaction: recoiling from the idea as we look at our packed calendar and endless to-do list. Perhaps we even experience some of these thoughts and emotions:

• How can I rest? Who’s going to take care of all these things I’m responsible for?
• I know I should rest and maybe even need to rest. But I feel so guilty when I do! And then when I don’t rest, I feel guilty too!
• When I finish this project, then I’ll take a break [*starts a new project immediately after the current one ends—or even before—then repeat*].
• If I rest, that means I’m lazy because I’m wasting time.

Here’s the thing: rest can actually have (at least) two different meanings. In order for me to explain, we’ll need an extremely basic physics lesson. (Because I majored in a social science, not a physical science!)

The Physics of Rest

There are essentially two kinds of energy: kinetic and potential. Kinetic energy exhibits as movement, while potential energy does not. So a ball sitting at the top of a hill demonstrates potential energy, while a ball rolling down a hill demonstrates kinetic energy.

However, an object at rest doesn’t always have potential energy. Think of the ball at the bottom of the hill. It’s resting because all of its potential energy was released as kinetic energy and it no longer has any stored energy. This is also what happens when batteries become drained. Batteries store potential energy until it’s released as kinetic energy that powers a toy or appliance.

So what does physics have to do with spiritual, mental, and emotional rest? Well, it seems that many people think that when they stop to rest, they are like the ball at the bottom of the hill. They think they’re “at rest”—aka not moving. They see themselves or others as useless because rest is a waste of time.

But when we choose to rest, we’re enabling ourselves to become the ball at the top of the hill. We’re increasing our potential energy, like pulling a swing as far back as it can go before letting it fly, or squatting as low as you can so you maximize the height of your next jump. By resting, we are recharging our batteries even though it may require us to sit still in the charging port, so to speak.

The irony is that by choosing not to rest because we’re afraid of doing nothing, we end up with no potential to do anything. We have to do nothing in order to do…well, everything!

The irony is that by choosing not to rest because we’re afraid of doing nothing, we end up with no potential to do anything.

So, what actually happens when we’re doing nothing? Turns out a lot! Let’s take a look at some examples of “doing nothing” and how it might actually be a spiritual practice essential to your rest and flourishing—and also be very different from what you originally imagined.

Breathing

Nobody would debate the importance of breathing and its necessity for survival, but not everybody would consider it an activity of any real substance to be engaged in intentionally. However, there’s a growing body of science that points to the various benefits of simply learning how to breathe (also known as breathwork):

• Reduces stress and anxiety
• Increases energy and boosts immunity
• Lowers blood pressure and improves circulation and lung capacity
• Helps manage pain and depression
• Improves mood and self-esteem
• Releases toxins
• Improves sleep and digestion
• Assists recovery from trauma, PTSD, and addictions
• Increases focus and creativity

Learning to rest through breathwork obviously has a powerful effect on our well-being! But when we pair deep breathing with prayer, it becomes a spiritual practice that impacts our entire being.

Breath prayer is a simple spiritual discipline that doesn’t require much time or effort to bear fruit. The aforementioned study indicates you can reap a myriad of benefits after a minimum of five minutes of breathwork.

But attaching your breath to simple prayers not only offers mental, emotional, and physical rewards, it can also enrich your connection to God, fulfilling the exhortation in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to “pray continually.” Rest doesn’t always have to take an entire day or week—it can easily be integrated into your busy day.

Sleep

Sleep is the classic example of “doing nothing.” Overachievers may take pride in not needing a nap, or even being unable to nap, and insist that they can run circles around their colleagues on 5 hours of sleep a night (or less!).

But not for long. The research is crystal clear: a LOT of stuff happens while you sleep, and it literally can’t be replicated when you’re awake. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Physically, the brain clears out glymphatic waste that can lead to illness and infection, as well as diseases like Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, and impair the healing process for traumatic brain injuries. The body engages in crucial functions such as tissue regeneration, bone repair, and hormone regulation.
• Emotionally, traumatic experiences are metabolized as painful memories are consolidated and their emotional charge reduced.
• Mentally, new information and memories are synthesized, reorganized, and stored.

Sleep becomes a spiritual practice when we recognize that by prioritizing sleep, we are acknowledging the important truth that we cannot do it all. We are declaring that God is God and we are not, as we surrender our body to the God who created and loves us.

Sleep becomes a spiritual practice when we recognize that by prioritizing sleep, we are acknowledging the important truth that we cannot do it all. We are declaring that God is God and we are not, as we surrender our body to the God who created and loves us.

So much happens to us and in us when we sleep—it’s just that we’re not doing any of it! We’re not even aware of any of it; only God is. What a humbling reality!

When we sleep, we are trusting God for our flourishing through processes that we have no control over as we slumber. One way Psalm 127:2 can be translated as: “In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—for while they sleep, he provides for those he loves” (NIV).

Meditation

Meditation is another activity that many often categorize as “doing nothing.” But even the most adamant skeptics are finding it difficult to argue with the mounting evidence that meditation is actually highly productive, just in a different way than originally defined.

Research consistently reveals that mindfulness meditation

• Improves mood and emotional regulation,
• Decreases pain, stress, anxiety, and burnout,
• Lowers blood pressure and heart rate,
• Slows cognitive decline and increases memory, attention, processing, and executive functioning, and
• Enhances immune functioning and reduces cell aging.

Clearly, meditation hardly “does nothing”! Additionally, not only can we receive these physical, emotional, and mental benefits, we can also receive spiritual benefits.

When we engage in spiritual practices like Centering Prayer (a contemplative form of silent Christian prayer), it may feel like we’re doing nothing. But research shows we’re not only likely to experience benefits similar to those listed above, but we’ll also probably notice an increase in spiritual flourishing and experiences of God.

Meditation is a way of quieting ourselves to rest in the presence of God. It results in a spiritual and emotional contentment that is enhanced by the mental and physical stillness of meditation. As Psalm 131:2 poignantly describes it: “But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content” (NIV).

God is even more direct in Psalm 46:10, where we are exhorted to: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (NIV).

The Practice of Rest

You’ll also notice a theme running throughout this discussion: the various forms of rest are all intertwined. Almost always, when you engage in a form of rest targeting one particular area of your life, you’ll experience rest in other parts as well. It’s difficult to extricate mental rest from physical rest, or spiritual rest from emotional rest.

Therein lies the power of doing nothing. Besides the fact that it’s almost always doing something behind the scenes, ceasing activity even in one slice of your life will most likely have a ripple effect, flowing out to affect other parts of your life. The more ways you can find to pause, the more the benefits will compound.

The more ways you can find to pause, the more the benefits will compound.

As a result, I believe there’s an invitation to be as intentional about establishing rhythms of rest as we are about our work. Here are a few tips that may help do that:

• Aim for restorative rhythms, rather than rigid rules. Establishing a “rest checklist” is antithetical to doing nothing!
• Balance companionship with solitude, taking into consideration your unique personality. Find what’s restful for you, keeping in mind that you still need the opposite of what you’re naturally inclined to.
• Start small and strive for consistency. Whether it be one minute of Centering Prayer or going to bed 15 minutes earlier, what matters more than how much you initially rest is beginning to develop the habits of rest.
• Find a guide or mentor. I’m one of De Pree’s many trained guides who can walk alongside you if you find rest particularly challenging. A spiritual director can be especially helpful if you need help detoxing from “doing” by engaging in Sabbath, a retreat, or a sabbatical.

Now go forth and do nothing!