Non-productive Time

When I worked as a nurse in Cardiac Intensive Care 20 years ago, the hospital brought in a consultant team to observe and record every detail of every activity and inactivity that we did in a 12 hour shift.  First of all, can you even imagine someone following the nurses around to determine if we were using our time well in a critical care situation?  I think back now on how inhumane that environment was.  On my feet, running from one alarm bell to another and only allowed two 15 minute breaks and one 30 minute lunch break in 12 hours.

The programming was so strong to always be moving and if we were not moving enough they would cut back on the staff so that we would be back on our feet and constantly moving.  Again, try and even imagine, they made the counters to do our charting high so that we would not be sitting down on the job.  Again, when I think back, I wonder how I EVER thought this was acceptable or normal expectations of any human work conditions.

Now as I sit with this intense training weaved through out my entire mental system, I find it difficult to simply be okay with myself when I sit down and enjoy the moment and what ever that moment is.  There is underlying guilt as the words “non-productive time” repeat over and over again just like a drone in the background of my mind.

My new awareness tells me that “non-productive time” is very valuable.  It is a time to integrate all the conversations you have been having, the activities you have been doing, and provides a time to ground yourself in your life.  “Non-productive time” is also a rich creative time for creative dreaming, pondering, reflecting, as well as a powerful time to vision for your future endeavors, choices, and options.  When we do not take time for “non-productive time” we end up burning ourselves out, over loading our energy system, and in some cases, creating illness or accidents to stop the madness of constantly being productive.

Meditation is a form of “non-productive time”.   In fact, it is still considered an alternative therapy to only be done when you have absolutely all of your other “productive time” activities done.  When your life becomes too busy, the meditation is usually the very first thing to be dropped.  Even the sacred practice of prayer used to be considered a honored activity of great importance.  I am sure the activity monitors at the hospital would have cut prayer and meditation, considering them non-productive.

When I meditated on my breaks at the hospital, my patients slept better, the IV pumps, EKG monitors and phones stopped alarming and ringing.  I witnessed this shift from chaos to calm too many times to even count now.  Just the simple act of me personally meditating and calming my own personal energy field, caused the environment around me to calm.  I also noticed, if the nurses did not take a break because it was so busy with the critical patients, it became even crazier.  IF we stopped to sit, have a coffee, and half a sandwich, the nursing unit also calmed.  So even taking time for self care, feeding, watering and bathroom for the nurses, created a greater healing environment for the patients.

Now to turn it around, we need balance.  All non-productive time can create sluggishness, depression and resistance. So as with anything balance is the key.  Productive time moves energy, non-productive time enriches energy.  We need them both.  So make a list of  your activities and rest times through out the day and how do you measure up?