A recent study found that most people would rather get an electric shock than sit quietly alone with their thoughts. The researcher’s theory (Nadia Whitehead in Science.org) is that in the age of constant distractions, actually sitting down to think is strange and uncomfortable. There's nothing wrong with technology, but it's healthier to be able to choose whether or not you want to use it, not to feel so addicted to distraction that you'd literally take pain over "nothing to do." You don't have to do a full tech fast, but today, take just a few minutes to sit alone with your thoughts and see how it feels. We ask our farm camp kids and our school kids to do that each day. We call it their “solo” time. And they find this resets their energy and focus.
My GO-TOs for sitting are in my basil patch or with my goats. Basil inspires with its beauty and its fragrance. Goats inspire with their wisdom and compassion. But no matter if you don’t have either. There is something that gives you delight, calms you, inspires you. Find it. Sit with it. Think about it. Think with it. And enjoy a presence of stillness and a stillness in the present.