Practicing mindfulness meditation is making the choice to be still — to step into the quiet shade instead of running away from difficult thoughts and feelings. We sometimes call meditation non-doing. Instead of being swept away by our usual conditioned reactions, we’re quiet and watchful, fully present with what is, touching it deeply, being touched by it, and seeing what is happening in the simplest and most direct fashion possible. Doing nothing really means not doing many of the things we usually do, like holding on to or hiding from our experience, so that we can get new perspectives, new insights, and new sources of strength.

Sitting quietly and observing mindfully is a particularly productive way of “doing” nothing. Through the regular practice of meditation we discover the real happiness of simplicity, of connection, of presence. We come closer and closer to living each day in accord with this lovely quotation from Wordsworth: “With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.”

Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation