Practice i.
Aspetta
Ninety seconds of nothing. The urge to be useful will rise, crest, and retire.
- Sit down. Put the phone face-down, ideally in another postcode.
- Press begin. Rest your eyes somewhere uninteresting.
- When the itch arrives — and it will — just notice it. Don't scratch it.
The ninety-second observance
From Just Be, page 7
Practice ii.
One Cup, Nothing Else
A hot drink. A chair. No screen. That's the whole practice.
- Make something hot — tea, coffee, whatever feels like a small ceremony.
- Sit somewhere you can see out of a window, or at least at a wall with potential.
- Drink it at the speed of drinking it. Notice when it's half gone; that's the practice working.
5:00
Five unaccompanied minutes
From Just Be, page 22
Practice iii.
The Window Watch
Sit by glass for ten minutes and let the world perform for you. Admission: free.
- Find a window. Any window — bus windows count, café windows are elite.
- Watch like it's television, except nothing is trying to sell you anything.
- Count how many small dramas you witness. There are always at least three.
10:00
Ten minutes of spectatorship
From Just Be, page 35
Practice v.
The Permission Slip
Some practices you do. This one you keep. Write your name on it — that's the practice.
- Think of the rest you've been postponing until you've "earned" it.
- Inscribe your name below. Read it back slowly.
- Print it and put it where the guilt usually finds you — fridge, desk, bathroom mirror.
Permission Slip
To do nothing, beautifully
lovingly granted to
Rest is not a reward. It is the ground
everything else grows from.
From Just Be, the whole of it, really