Wasting time

I'm not going to suggest there's no such thing as wasting time. As individuals time is our most precious resource and there's lots of ways it can be spent doing things that we could consider a waste of it.

What I am going to suggest is that no one activity is by itself a waste. When done mindfully even sitting doing nothing at all can be immensely beneficial. More and more research comes out all the time regarding the benefits of meditation. I think some would even consider it the single most beneficial thing you can do for yourself. Conversely, even things that are widely thought of as productive can become a waste of time when done without thought.

Meetings are a good example of both. A mindful meeting where two or more people are getting together to solve a problem is probably why we have fire. Ir's certainly why we can build giant structures that fly. On the other hand, mindless meetings where people talk AT one another are rarely of much or any use.

That all being said, I'm working on not considering anything a waste of time. Especially not creative endeavors. The temptation is there and it becomes an easy excuse to let ourselves off the hook. But I'm working to remember that many of the things that turned out to be of the greatest value to me as a growing individual, didn't have that apparent value while I was doing them. I'm working at instead doing everything mindfully.