Weekend Meditation

In Defense of Laziness

Dana Velden
Dana Velden
Dana Velden's first book, Finding Yourself in the Kitchen: Kitchen Meditations and Inspired Recipes from a Mindful Cook (Rodale Books) is available where ever books are sold. She lives in Oakland, CA.
published Jun 1, 2014
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Oh, Laziness. Your reputation is so terrible that in many circles you’re actually considered a sin. You keep company with D- report cards and are reportedly the cause of numerous character faults and societal problems. Can you ever be seen as something positive? That would would be quite a hill to climb! Only, being Laziness, you probably won’t be doing much hill-climbing. You’ll remain an outcast, banished from the doorstep of any top-drawer, self-respecting, go-getting, take-charge, up-to-the-minute Super Hero.

Except in my house. You are warmly welcome here, Laziness. (But maybe only for a short visit.)

The other day I spent my morning in a rather lazy way. I read a trashy novel in bed, consumed endless mugs of sloppily brewed tea and didn’t change out of my jammies until the sun was quite high in the sky. It was pure laziness and I loved it. I even found myself doing nothing but sitting on my couch, just wandering around in my thoughts, allowing them to be wild and uncontrolled and interesting.

Eventually the demands of the day crept in and I shed my sloth and torpor for more conventional ways of being. I got around to last night’s dishes, planned a simple dinner and organized several piles of life’s flotsam. But it was sweet to have had those few hours (and my own permission!) to lollygag about. I’ve come to think they’re necessary for a contented and creative life. There has to be spaces in the busyness for the magic to slip in and a lazy morning spent staring out the window is perfect for such occurrences.

So I say find a way to give yourself some of this unstructured, lazy time and start unravelling some of your usual assumptions and preoccupations. Allow something to influence you that isn’t a product of your diligence and striving, something wilder and less predictable. Who knows what fascinating places this will take you!

Huh. Maybe this being lazy isn’t so unproductive after all.

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I hope you enjoyed this encore Weekend Meditation, originally posted in February 2011. I will be posting these vintage posts every Sunday (with the occasional new post, if I can manage!) for the next several months while I focus on writing my first book.