Not that I’m saying that just sitting there doing nothing is bad, mind you. Just that doing it for hours and hours, day after day, might not be the best thing for ya. Or maybe it’s a symptom of something very wrong. I guess as with everything else, just sitting and thinking should be done in moderation.
I can’t go anywhere without a book. Especially on long trips. I used to drive from Atlanta to Cincinnati and back once a month to visit my wife (she wasn’t then). I-75 is pretty boring from Knoxville thru Cinci, and I eventually found that a good book was often the difference between staying awake and falling asleep. I know, I know, but it can’t be any worse than talking on one’s cell phone whilst driving, can it? Just gotta watch those tricky narrow places just before overpasses…
I usually don’t have a book on me, unless I know I am going somewhere to wait. I do have, however, a notepad with me. I keep a journal in my purse so I can always write or review stuff I have written. I usually end up staring off into space thinking about everything, i.e. things I need to do, people I haven’t seen in a while or occasionally making up “lives” for the people I see walking by. It really depends on my mood.
(I apologize in advance for any spelling or grammar errors. I have now been at work for 14 hrs and am a little bit tired. :))
Guilty.
I brink a book to the supermarket for when I’m waiting in line. I always take a book to lunch, or when on a train or bus. My wife does the same, but I think I’m worse. I brought a book to the hospital when our daughter was being born. (Of course, I didn’t read it during labor. Not much.)
Being an Obsessive Compulsive I count things. When asked about it by a former counselor, I continued looking him squarely in the eye and announced, “there are 22 tokens – tiles, half tiles or lights in the center row of ceiling tiles.” (He believed me – both the count and on being OC.)
When I expect to wait in an airport I must have the latest Scientific American, Discover, Omni, and Games magazines.
Sitting at lunch? The newspaper and the crossword puzzle.
I don’t think it’s possible to have a total blank brain. There’s got to be some kind of thought in there even if it’s repeating, “I’m thinking of nothing, I’m thinking of nothing.” To achieve a complete zero in the thought department one would have to be Vulcan. (I point you to the original episode where our lads are in a surreal re-enactment of the OK corral and Spock has to mind meld with the fellows to make sure they DIDN’T think anything.)