The Germans Have Another Right Approach to Life

Stop and smell the roses (house in Lübeck).

The Italians have a great phrase for what I want to talk about today: dolce far niente. It means doing sweet nothing, or the sweetness of doing nothing. Italians (and Germans, and other Europeans) know very well how sweet it is to have room to think and feel and allow the day to swirl around you. Unstructured time - even a few moments here and there - is essential for good mental health, for having a life worth living.

How many of us in North America allow ourselves that simple joy, even on our supposed time off?
After being away, I saw my own culture with new eyes. It seems that everyone here feels the need to fill time. That could be while eating a meal, riding public transport, or even driving a car. The act of being busy, of not "wasting" time, has become a social disease in the guise of a virtue. Idle thought - even while eating! - is something to avoid.
I read this recent article in the New York Times http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/the-busy-trap/, and several memories from Germany rushed back.

• People talking to each other in sidewalk cafés or restaurants, instead of sitting "alone together" as each got lost in a portable screen device;
• Almost no one walks with take-out drinks - they sit and enjoy the beverage; over here, the streets are full of hurried people with coffee to go, and I often catch people eating sandwiches or even containers of food while they're walking;
• Certain neighborhoods in Berlin and elsewhere appealed to me partially due to their proper mix of commercial and residential, which Canadian urban planning guru Jane Jacobs tried to bring to NY and Toronto more than 50 years ago; walkable neighborhoods are living communities, not just buildings and pavement.

 This relates to some of my posts in my first blog, ONLY CONNECT: mindfulness. If you have a full life, with many obligations, you certainly cannot stare out of a window for three hours, musing on the meaning of life. But you still can be mindful of whatever you do. You can make a sacrament of little pleasures, thereby making it easier to question the frantic pace of your life. It will never change unless you examine it--and it's better to do that voluntarily. No one wants to be forced to do so by circumstances outside their control (e.g., illness).
Read the article, even if you already know these things, perhaps because you're reading this from Europe or Russia or even Australia! See the comments - some real eye-openers. Many people know this "creative idleness" is a balm to the soul, while constant hamster-wheel busy-ness, very often for empty pursuits, is not really living at all. Others cling to their belief that being busy is a sign of success or self-worth.

"The unexamined life is not worth living." - Socrates

Take a deep breath. Stop playing those video games. Check Facebook once a day instead of every hour. Filter your e-mails. Call a friend "just because." Pat that friendly dog on the street as you wait for the light to change.
Enjoy the moment!