I saw this block of sunshine on the carpet in my daughter’s room and I knew I had to lie down in it and do nothing but sunbathe for a while. Do nothing.
I’ve noticed how hard I find it to leave spaces of nothing recently. I have a moment to myself, and I think… Netflix? Book? Play the piano? Read? Never ‘nothing time’. Zero Time. Zero input. The amount of inputs I have at my disposal is a wonder – the web, podcasts, Audible, Netflix, YouTube, blogs, books – so much to take in!
But it was in that bedroom that I remembered the wonder of nothingness a few nights back, while I was slouched at the end of the bed in the dark waiting for my daughter to fall asleep. No headphones in my ears, nothing to watch, nothing to read, just black nothing. I haven’t felt so wonderful in ages. So I resolved to leave more space for Zero Time.
I like Zero-input lunches on my own, where I just watch the other diners, and Zero-input walks – headphone free – just looking around. And Zero-input bedtimes, lying in the dark, waiting for sleep. Zero-input bus rides where I don’t look at Instagram, but at the world and my fellow passengers instead. These Zero-input moments are Zero Time, where I read, watch and listen to nothing, and reality washes its wonderful way in instead.
Notes from Ben 