Wu Wei (the art of not doing): the Taoist secret to enjoying the present more and making better decisions

On one occasion I was invited to a mindfulness congress and a doctor who was giving a presentation confessed to me: «The big problem in our world is that you are what you deliver. They measure us by what we do, not by who we are».

Only when we go from “doing mode” to “being mode” we got off autopilot and we regain the freedom to livesaid Guady Ruiz-Giménez in The art of aging beautifully. In his own words: “Attention in the doing mode is rapid, involuntary, intuitive, and motivated by impulses and emotions; while being mode uses slower voluntary attention, thoughtful and hard-working. It is the seat of conscious self controlof learning and planning located in the prefrontal cortex».

Benefits of moving from do mode to be mode

Guady also cites the practical guide mindfulnessin which Professors Williams and Penman present the benefits we enjoy if we move from doing to being:

We stop acting automatically and we regain our ability to choose.Instead of judgment there is acceptance.we got change the tendency to analyze for that of feeling.We stop identifying with our thoughts.We recognize and accept emotions instead of avoiding them. We recover all our personal energy.we live in presentWe no longer project ourselves into the past or future.

Why are we afraid of doing nothing?

In art history we talk about horror vacui to refer to our tendency to fill in all the gaps –in art and in life–, as if the blank spaces were deadly traps into which we could disappear. Currently, this translates into bursting calendars, something that even affects children, who, according to psychiatrist Marian Rojas, «they have ministerial agendas».

why do you give us so much afraid to do nothing? Are we afraid that uncomfortable questions will come to our mind? Where does the fever come from to take advantage of every temporary gap, as if life were slipping away from us?

Wu wei: the utility of not doing

in the poem XI of the Tao Te ChingLao Tzu explains with great beauty the vacuum utility: «Thirty spokes converge in the center of a wheel, / but it is their emptiness that makes the cart useful. / The clay is molded to make the vessel, / but the use of the vessel depends on its emptiness. // Doors and windows are opened in the walls of a house, / and it is the void that allows inhabiting it. / In being we focus our interest, / but utility depends on non-being.”

As in the tale of the teacher and the cup of tea, In order to fill ourselves with something new, we first have to empty ourselves.. And that implies not speaking, not deciding, not doing: that is the basis of wu wei.

It is wrong to believe that “not doing” is an invitation to passivity, laziness or apathy. On the contrary, it supposes have enough awareness to know when to act and when not, when our action can be counterproductive and, therefore, it is convenient not to force the course of things. This concept is at the heart of the taoismwhich tells us in a mysterious way that the Tao never performs any action, but also leaves nothing undone.

In what situations is it better to do nothing?

in his book Being lucky in life depends on youXenia Vives dedicates a section to wu wei and identifies some everyday situations in which it is preferable not to do:

When an argument breaks out and nerves prevent us from redirecting the conversation, it is best to leave the subject and retire wisely. There will be time to talk when the waters calm down.If anger or disappointment overwhelms you, you may be tempted to send an angry message. An email or WhatsApp out of tune in a heated moment can destroy years of trust. A Chinese proverb recommends: «When you’re upset don’t write letters, and when you’re happy don’t promise anything.»In any situation of chaos and hostility, when everything is so confused and tense that the path to follow is not clear, sometimes we act desperately and that is when things definitely break down. If the trail has been covered in fog, stop and wait. You’ll resume the march when it clears up. Again Chinese wisdom tells us: «Sit at the door of your house and you will see the corpse of your enemy pass by».

Not-doing to replenish mental energy

In Western culture, we associate the art of not doing with expressions such as sweet far niente of the Italians. However, also in countries as industrious as the Netherlands there is a word to describe this state. In Dutch, the Niksen is something more than “doing nothing”, it serves to recharge batteries and to address problems that the bustle of activity prevents us from resolving.

The mere fact of resting, without forcing solutions, already creates that fertile void that the Tao Te Ching spoke of. Looking out the window or taking a breath helps replenish our mental energy and to overcome the blocks of exhaustion. Sandi Mann, a psychologist at UCLAN University, says: “Inactivity allows the mind to seek its own stimuli, it is there that we begin to daydream and the mind begins to wander, and it is at that point that there is more likely that creativity will come to us.”

Logically, between frenetic hyperactivity and absolute pause there is a middle path, which is also a very oriental concept. The wisdom of the human being lies, precisely, in know when to act and when to rest; at what moment should we tune into the do mode, and at what time, the be mode.

To discern it we have the help of the Italian economist and politician Vilfredo Pareto, who already in 1906 suggested that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. This calculation was used by theorists such as the engineer Joseph Juran to state the famous Pareto Principle.

If he 80% of the benefits are obtained from 20% of our activity, we already have a valuable scale to know when it is convenient to act and when it is better to give up. Some examples:

A free lance With many clients, you can detect the 20% that gives you the most economic value or satisfaction, and thus free yourself from the remaining 80% in order to generate more space for quality clients. If we discover the 20% of activities of our free time that give us more pleasure or fulfillment, we can choose and say no to commitments that fill our agenda, but not our hearts.

How to pause

Just like an engine needs a certain time to go from 100 to 0, for a hyperactive person slamming on the brakes can be counterproductive, since at first you will feel disoriented. It is better to introduce small decompression targetssuch as winning a free afternoon a week and increasing the breaks.

Marcelo Estráviz explains in his book the power of pause that the great transformations of his life took place after take a gap year. A break of this type requires preparation, starting with the provision of funds for the time we are without work, with the necessary margin until income returns.

«Why are you in such a hurry?», the teacher asked a very agitated disciple. «I seek knowledge“, answered, “I can’t waste time». «And how do you know that knowledge is ahead of you? Maybe he’s behind, and all you need to find it is to stay still. By rushing you are moving away».

The absence of messages is almost a taboo in our information saturated world, especially if we are in company. Instead of saying anything because we’re with someone, we can share the silence until we feel comfortable with it. That reveals a degree of intimacy greater than “talking for talking.”