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And on the seventh day, the Lord kicked back and had a brewski. Sat on a Barcalounger and watched ESPN. Didn't lift a finger. Didn't build a Garden of Eden Wal-Mart. Just sat there and chilled out.

There's a reason the Bible says God rested on the seventh day. It emphasizes the value of rest, the power of doing nothing. For in order to have meaningful action, there must be periods of inaction. You can't have hot without cold, up without down, yin without yang, activity without rest.

It's been said that the pause between notes is what makes music so beautiful. Without those little breaks, it would all be an incoherent garbled mess. The same thing applies to people.

Even though all is One, God split us up into billions of allegedly different folks. It's this illusion of separation that makes our elaborate drama on earth so entertaining. The pause between people allows our individuality to come forth, and we put on a beautiful display of diversity.

On a smaller scale, be mindful of your need for a pause between activities. Find a proper balance. Challenge yourself with new goals and interests, but know when it's time to take a breather. If you rush to work in the morning, run around the office in a frenzy, zoom home and do a gazillion errands before heading to yoga class, then you need a big dose of nothing.

Put a little pause between the notes. If you run from one thing to the next, then even your most favorite activities can degenerate into "just another one of ten thousand things I gotta do today." So step back, detach yourself from the frenzy, and recognize when you need to take a break.

Unplug the phone. Take a hot bath, curl up in bed with a good book, meditate. Whatever makes you go aaaahhhhh is fine. Plan a special Nothing Day where you do just that: absolutely nothing. Soothe your soul with nothingness and recharge your batteries. Having done so, you are better equipped to jump back into the everyday world and effectively tackle the challenges that come with it.

You can even use the power of nothing to your advantage, as a way of solving problems and getting ahead in this world. This is always a good strategy whenever you're wrestling with a new concept or trying to make a difficult decision: Take a good, thorough look at what's going on in your mind, and then forget about it. Do nothing. Sleep on it. Eventually, the answer will come to you. It's like sending a postcard to God.

As you contemplate, muse, and wonder, you become lost in thought as if you were meditating on the issue at hand. In fact, it's a good idea to purposely use meditation as a means of finding answers for almost any situation. Your thoughts burrow into your subconscious mind, where they become accessible to the collective consciousness...and ultimately, they are re-ceived by God.

Having sent your question via subconscious postcard, God soon sends an answer right back. And if you pay attention, the answer will pop up out of nowhere and smack you right in the head. It usually happens in the middle of a "nothing" activity such as driving the car, taking a shower, or brushing your teeth.

There's an ongoing joke in my office that we're going to replace desk chairs with toilets––because the bathroom is where our best ideas have surfaced. It's uncanny, but it happens all the time. That's why I encourage my colleagues to take a break, go for a walk, or take a nap. It works. Never underestimate the power of nothing.

Mark Barrow is a freelance writer, counselor, and motivational speaker. Deaf since early childhood, he often jokes that being oblivious to external influences helps him hear the voice within. He recently published his first book, Common Sense God.
e-mail: Deffman@aol.com