This downtime challenge, along with my current one-mind challenge and my new year’s intention of choosing gratitude, has been one of the best things I have initiated this year. Instead of viewing downtime as an unfortunate time-waster and a pipeline to mindless distraction, I chose to view it as an opportunity for presence and skillful action. I feel like the underlying theme of my life this year has been showing up to the small, sad, or silly moments of life with radical acceptance, curiosity, and optimism.

My downtime challenge was incredibly simple in its goal. I’m learning that crafting simplicity is almost always much more effective in the long run than just sheer effort. Basically, I wanted to change the way I viewed downtime and proposed doing so by observing myself for a moment and then choosing a skillful action depending on the situation.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THE CHALLENGE:

• Enjoyment in mundane, everyday situations is always possible. You might need to put a little extra effort both in the moment and in mental preparation the night before, but it is well worth it. You can make life interesting even in situations where it doesn’t naturally seem so.
• I can exert a sense of control even in situations where I don’t have it. I don’t have control over how fast the printer spits out pages or how long a staff meeting is going to last, but I can always control the mind style or point of view I choose to bring to the situation. Perception may not be reality with regards to material objects, but it is most certainly true when it comes to mind states.
• I have less fear of unknown situations. As someone that has used the excuse of chronic pain to avoid a lot of novel and untested experiences, I know that a lot of this avoidance boiled down to a fear of the unknown, which – yes – my chronic pain exacerbated. If I build up the skill of intentionally navigating downtime, this becomes much less prominent.

WHAT I WANT TO CONTINUE GOING FORWARD:

• Allow some more downtime into my life. I want to lighten up a bit with how much I try to maximize time efficiency. I am going to allow myself to be more spontaneous, knowing that I can handle the “dead” time that may be part of the package.
• Approach more situations from a perspective of maximizing my presence and participation instead of how much I accomplish. I want to embrace my thoughts, feelings, and desires more instead of just being a slave to “getting the job done”. I am choosing to view the journey as not just something that is important, but really the ONLY thing that matters. I will reach destinations along the way, and I can celebrate these, but the journey is where it’s at!

I feel like my current goal of living one-mindfully is an organic continuation of intentional downtime and is squaring the results I gained from this former challenge.

May you show yourself love by bringing your whole presence into the small, the sad, and the silly moments of your life. May you be at peace.

Namaste.