Editor's Letter 22nd September 2019: The life-changing art of doing nothing Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Sign in Welcome!Log into your account Forgot your password? Password recovery Recover your password Search Sign in Welcome! Log into your account Forgot your password? Get help Password recovery Recover your password A password will be e-mailed to you. YOU Magazine Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Home Life Editor’ s letter The life-changing art of doing nothing By You Magazine - September 22, 2019 Of all the ways in which I manage to irritate my husband of 20 years – leave my tea bags in the sink, open a fresh loaf of bread when there’s still the icky crusts left from the last one – he never looks more agitated than the times we’re on a long-haul flight and I just sit there, staring into space. He’ll look up from his film, and the book he’s also got on the go, and say, ‘HOW are you not bored to death? We’ve got hours of this! Haven’t you got a book you can read?’ Not always, no. He cannot accept that the activity I look forward to, as much as getting to our holiday, is this inactivity: sitting on a plane and gazing out of the window at an empty sky. I can’t overstate how restorative I find this time. It’s my version of meditation: sit, gaze, let the brain wander where it may. I can honestly do this, happily, for an hour or more. In all seriousness, some of my most precious epiphanies have come to me at such moments: the sudden realisation that a job or a relationship is making me unhappy. I’ve solved problems and had wild moments of creative inspiration for work pop into my head out of thin air. Obviously sometimes nothing happens, other than noticing that the pattern on the carpet looks a bit like Jeremy Clarkson’s face. And that’s fine. The point is, this is the one time I can think of, sitting 30,000 feet in the air, when I have permission to lie back and let my mind glaze over rather than suddenly feeling that I ought to use this time to pop on another load of laundry. I think I’m going to force my husband to read the feature we have today about the power of rest. Not sleep, not lolling on the couch watching Netflix, but genuine, motionless downtime. Like most people, he has convinced himself that this sort of meditative state is an unacceptable waste of time. It’s not. It’s just incredibly hard, in our world of over-stimulated, 24/7 connectivity, for any of us to truly escape into moments of nothingness. And there’s a growing body of evidence to validate my stance: rest has a significant, positive impact on our physical and mental wellbeing. So I hope our piece makes you feel less guilty the next time you find yourself flopping down and zoning out. Oh, but first, do take the time to read today’s excellent and entertaining issue of YOU magazine! Editor’ s picks A few things I’m coveting this week Great print for night or day dressing. Top, £275, tabithawebb.co.uk I’ll be hinting hard for this for Christmas. Bracelet, £220, wolfandbadger.com I’m ready for my autumn Cornwall visit now. Jacket, £299, barbour.com RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR Everything we know about The Crown season 5 Aldi s exercise equipment is on sale with up to 50% off The best Halloween events for 2022 across the UK Popular in Life The You magazine team reveal their New Year s resolutions December 31, 2021 Susannah Taylor The TLC tools your body will love January 23, 2022 How to stop living in fear February 6, 2022 Susannah Taylor My pick of the fittest leggings February 27, 2022 Women’ s Prize for Fiction 2022 winner announced June 17, 2022 These BBC dramas are returning for a second series June 30, 2022 Susannah Taylor gives the lowdown on nature s little helper – CBD April 17, 2022 The baby names that are banned across the world April 27, 2022 The Queen has released her own emojis May 26, 2022 Sally Brompton horoscopes 27th June-3rd July 2022 June 26, 2022 Popular CategoriesFood2704Life2496Fashion2240Beauty1738Celebrity1261Interiors684 Sign up for YOUMail Thanks for subscribing Please check your email to confirm (If you don't see the email, check the spam box) Fashion Beauty Celebrity Life Food Privacy & Cookies T&C Copyright 2022 - YOU Magazine. All Rights Reserved