How To Do Nothing

by Jocelyn Fortier

Doing nothing is hard but necessary. It’s how you refuel. I like to think I am an expert at it, having done it for work purposes for 25 plus years. I am a creative director, it’s my job to get ideas and to do this I did nothing.

Mel Robins has been talking about the art of doing nothing and has a great podcast on it. https://www.melrobbins.com/podcasts/episode-132

I developed this skill being a creative director as I needed to do nothing in order to get ideas. I had to stop the chatter in my head, my world. Make my mind stop and let it wander to quiet place.

My tactic was to gather the info, do research, understand the goals of said campaign, put out some blank sheets of paper – then do nothing. Otherwise, you can easily end up regurgitating someone’s else’s campaign and not offer anything new or different. That’s bad in my world.

My go-to was scent and staring at the sky. Being in a comfy horizontal position is best but not always doable. Nor is the sky. So I ended up relying on scent. And a story.

Being a storyteller, I would tell myself a story that would take me drifting off to some pleasant place where I floated on clouds or flew with birds. I can still make myself feel like I am floating on a cloud – I practice this nearly every morning.

Laying still, I ask my mother if she would like to have a visit – she’s in Heaven. She pretty much always says yes. I usually get to the cloud first. Sometimes the clouds are rather bumpy and I have to focus on walking over the poofiness and not falling off. Once I find a spot, I sit, rarely am I laying on a cloud. My mother just appears. I never see her walking -I am not sure why. Maybe they don’t have to walk to in Heaven.

She always starts with a warm and softly uplifting ‘Hi Jocelyn’. And smiles her oversized smile. Then we talk but it’s without words it seems. I can feel myself floating and feel the comfort of my mother. I focus on her lullaby type talk, rhythmic and mesmerizing. I feel the floating, I can practically feel my body swaying. It’s magically calming and soothing. It seems surreal as I am awake yet I can feel the float it feels good.

Sometimes I do this for an hour, sometimes a few minutes. I crawl off the cloud feeling loved, relaxed, refreshed, armed with a positive attitude and sometimes answers to my questions. Ready for whatever.

You could try my method. My mother’s name is Erna, she’s very kind, loves to chat and will likely meet you on a cloud near you.

Or you could try one of my candles. Nap Lovers is a story I wrote about napping under a big old fig tree on cotton sheets my mother had just pulled off the clothesline. They smelled of sunshine, country air and had a slight crunch to them. The figs had fallen on the sheets, the dirt beneath the tree smelled nourishing.

The idea is to light the candle, read the story or have someone read it to you – nothing like someone reading to you. I will read to you. Then let your mind drift off with the story. Put yourself into the story, under that tree with my mother covering you in a clothesline dried cotton sheet.

Jocelyn Fortier is the creative director behind Pour l'air candles. Nap Lovers candle is the candle to help you do nothing - available at Pourlair.com