Génesis
Learning to do nothing
Lying there watching the water, not listening to anything and not telling anyone about it, is a skill, and it's become a rare one.
You used to get bored at the beach. There was a long stretch, between one swim and the next, where nothing happened. You'd watch the water, follow someone with your eyes, doze off halfway.
That stretch of time has disappeared. Now there are podcasts, downloaded shows, a phone tucked into a waterproof pouch so nothing can happen to it.
We're not going to say that's a bad thing. But it's worth knowing what's being traded for what. That stretch of nothing was where the odd ideas turned up, the memories you weren't looking for, and the decisions you'd been putting off for months.
Try leaving your phone in the bag for a whole afternoon. The first twenty minutes are genuinely uncomfortable. After that, something else happens.
