Giving Compass' Take:

· In this advanced age where society is 24/7 and “always on," sculpting time out of your schedule to "do nothing" may seem unrealistic and without reason, but it has never been more important. According to The Conversation, modern times encourage acceleration for the sake of advancement but fail to consider the consequences it causes.

· We live in a hypermodern society where doing nothing is considered lazy and wasteful. Why is it important to take time to remove yourself from the daily concerns of life and spend time in simple reflection and contemplation? How will this help focus your mission in philanthropy?

· Learn nine self-care strategies in the modern era.

In the 1950s, scholars worried that, thanks to technological innovations, Americans wouldn’t know what to do with all of their leisure time.

Yet today, as sociologist Juliet Schor notes, Americans are overworked, putting in more hours than at any time since the Depression and more than in any other in Western society.

It’s probably not unrelated to the fact that instant and constant access has become de rigueur, and our devices constantly expose us to a barrage of colliding and clamoring messages: “Urgent,” “Breaking News,” “For immediate release,” “Answer needed ASAP.”

It disturbs our leisure time, our family time – even our consciousness.

In a hypermodern society propelled by the twin engines of acceleration and excess, doing nothing is equated with waste, laziness, lack of ambition, boredom or “down” time.

But this betrays a rather instrumental grasp of human existence.

Much research – and many spiritual and philosophical systems Buddhism, for example, suggest that detaching from daily concerns and spending time in simple reflection and contemplation are essential to health, sanity and personal growth.

Similarly, to equate “doing nothing” with nonproductivity betrays a short-sighted understanding of productivity. In fact, psychological research suggests that doing nothing is essential for creativity and innovation, and a person’s seeming inactivity might actually cultivate new insights, inventions or melodies.

Read the full article about the importance of doing nothing by Simon Gottschalk at The Conversation.