Do Nothing Assignment
Melissa Adamski
SOC 101-C
MWF 10-10:50
Do Nothing: The Beginner’s Mind
This assignment was extremely difficult. It is not easy to be in a public place and keep a completely clear mind. I chose the Hadley Mall. On Monday 1/16/15, I went to the mall. I found a spot in the middle of the food court and sat down. It took a while to “do nothing.” As I sat there blankly and not really paying attention to anything in particular, all I saw was people walking around or sitting down and eating lunch.
It felt kind of odd to just be sitting there and looking pretty idiotic blankly staring at nothing. As I sat there, I was slowly turning my mind off and trying to not look at anything or anyone. I didn’t want to make it look like I was waiting for someone because I was very curious if this task could be accomplished. It took me probably a good hour to finally get where I needed to be mentally.
I was kind of amazed though that when I finally had a clear mind, all feelings of emotions went away; positive and negative. I just tuned out the background music and was in a relaxing state of mind. It took quite a while and quite a few tries to get this way. Again, this was extremely hard to accomplish. At first, I kept getting distracted by kids yelling and running around and people talking loudly to each other or on their cell phones. Plus I was a little skeptical about doing nothing in a place full of people because I was afraid of the reaction from them.
As I sat there, I was slowly turning my mind off and trying to just not look at anything or anyone. I didn’t want to make it look like I was waiting for someone because I was very curious if this task could be accomplished. It took me probably a good hour to finally get where I needed to be mentally.
I think this feeling of emptiness was there because there is always something going on in my head and it is very rare that I am not actually thinking about something. It also made me feel relaxed and less confused. The mall is so
SOC 101-C
MWF 10-10:50
Do Nothing: The Beginner’s Mind
This assignment was extremely difficult. It is not easy to be in a public place and keep a completely clear mind. I chose the Hadley Mall. On Monday 1/16/15, I went to the mall. I found a spot in the middle of the food court and sat down. It took a while to “do nothing.” As I sat there blankly and not really paying attention to anything in particular, all I saw was people walking around or sitting down and eating lunch.
It felt kind of odd to just be sitting there and looking pretty idiotic blankly staring at nothing. As I sat there, I was slowly turning my mind off and trying to not look at anything or anyone. I didn’t want to make it look like I was waiting for someone because I was very curious if this task could be accomplished. It took me probably a good hour to finally get where I needed to be mentally.
I was kind of amazed though that when I finally had a clear mind, all feelings of emotions went away; positive and negative. I just tuned out the background music and was in a relaxing state of mind. It took quite a while and quite a few tries to get this way. Again, this was extremely hard to accomplish. At first, I kept getting distracted by kids yelling and running around and people talking loudly to each other or on their cell phones. Plus I was a little skeptical about doing nothing in a place full of people because I was afraid of the reaction from them.
As I sat there, I was slowly turning my mind off and trying to just not look at anything or anyone. I didn’t want to make it look like I was waiting for someone because I was very curious if this task could be accomplished. It took me probably a good hour to finally get where I needed to be mentally.
I think this feeling of emptiness was there because there is always something going on in my head and it is very rare that I am not actually thinking about something. It also made me feel relaxed and less confused. The mall is so