Phil Garber
3 min readJan 7, 2021

0107blog

Let’s Do Nothing

My oh my, in all my years I’ve never seen anything quite as scary as yesterday’s attempted coup, so what is a body to do?

I go for nothing, just do nothing, think nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. Say it, think it, breath it, repeat it until nothing is something very special, apart from all the current, crazy everything. Repeat it enough times until it makes total sense, this nothingness because if there was ever a perfect time to evacuate the infernal thoughts of the day it is now and to make room for nothing. There’s too many thoughts going on, it’s getting a little too crazy for my good and thoughts won’t fix anything, only nothing will work.

It’s very easy to do nothing, you just take a few deep breaths and do nothing. It will certainly amaze you, taking this effortless journey to nothing and feeling how it is quite possibly the most liberating thing you have ever done.

If a thought slips in, have no fear, just take a deep breath and return to nothing. If a worry or a negative emotion gets through a crack, chill, just let it stay until it chooses to leave, dying of its own weight because it will disappear if you pay it no attention and just treat it like nothing.

I enjoy nothing because there’s no responsibility, no judging, no practicing, no right way or wrong way, no preparation and you can do it right now for free. You can’t get nothing wrong because nothing is always right. People can’t take nothing away and people can’t give you nothing because only you can give yourself nothing and it is such a precious gift to yourself. And you don’t have to speak or think in order to attain nothing so that means that you don’t have to be bright or tall or handsome, just be nothing. Nothing is painless and with nothing, there’s nothing to worry about.

Having nothing is such a bundle of freedom and something that nobody can steal from you and it feels so good to give yourself nothing rather than all the something out there. Nothing can truly give you some peace of mind like a gently rolling river but beware that people are very uncomfortable with nothing and they feel the toxic need to always be filling you and themselves with something, even if that something is not much of anything important.

Nothing is totally natural as you are born with nothing while the world immediately wants to begin filling you up with arbitrary rules and selfish ideas. Nature, they say, hates a void but they are wrong when it comes to nothing which is actually quite something. To the newborn, nothing is perfect.

So when your brain is finally filled with nothing, it’s time to fill it up with positives. Go slowly, let your spirit guide you to that positive place. For me, it’s the ocean, with its warmth and gentle sounds of waves breaking and seagulls calling. Other times, it’s a cabin in New Hampshire in January with a fireplace roaring and crackling and wrapping its tentacles around me. Or it’s a hike along the Appalachian trail, passing only an infrequent fellow hiker along the way while looking out at the infinite expanse.

The beauty of nothing is that it is always available and ready to rescue you from thoughts that would harm you and lead you to dark places. You are totally in control of nothing, summoning it up anytime, anywhere, whether it’s three in the morning or two in the afternoon, whether you’re lying on your soft bed or sitting on the stoop watching the world go by. You could be driving your car in a blinding snowstorm when you stop on the shoulder to find and do nothing. It’s safer than driving in the snowstorm.

You don’t have to feel guilty about nothing. After all, nothing won’t hurt anyone and you might even convince a friend or two to seek nothing and it might be the best therapy ever, this nothing. Imagine if everyone did nothing and what a stress-free world it would be.

Phil Garber
Phil Garber

Written by Phil Garber

Journalist for 40 years and now a creative writer

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