For most of us the start of a new year brings attempts to try to do more. I know I have a ridiculous list of things I want to accomplish beyond just what has to get done. (It’ll all happen – not!) But I recently rediscovered one of my favorite phrases languishing in a corner of my brain and I thought I would stop and dust it off for all of us.
Dolce far niente is an Italian phrase which literally means: “sweet doing nothing.” For me this means a restorative kind of pleasant, carefree idleness.
I know, words of heresy in our perpetual motion society, but doesn’t it sound nice? When’s the last time you stared out the window at the snow falling, or laid on a summer blanket of grass just looking up at the clouds? <sigh>
I wish you success with your goals and resolutions and hope you also have moments of “dolce far niente.”
— Julie
Read it or Weep 