Who doesn’t want to ‘do nothing’? At least every now and then?
Under rare circumstances, I manage to do nothing quite easily. But most of the time I need to work hard to do nothing. Such as during the recent Philosophy and the Art of Archery that Jan Flameling and I facilitate once a year.
We always attract special people. This time was no exception. Take Rob for an example. For a sloppy observer he could have passed as a non-descript. But boy was he switched on. Effortlessly he followed the archery instructions. No excess movement touched his beautiful stance. Nor did he ask anything; he only made contact with his shooting buddy. In reaction I held back even more than usual.
Even though holding back felt good at first, the Calvinistic little usher in my head urged me more and more strongly to ‘get down to work.’ And believe me, I am eager to work indeed. But in this case, facilitating meant ‘doing as little as possible’. Maybe even nothing.
I offered Rob’s shooting buddy a new breathing rhythm. Barely within earshot of Rob. Immediately Rob synced with this new rhythm. His last arrow had barely hit the target when he beamed a big smile at me:
‘Do you have any idea how strong that works? It makes time disappear, and it took me into a different world all of a sudden.’ In a flash I realized I had done little enough. A world of difference.