“Because of our routines, we forget that life is an ongoing adventure.”
Maya Angelou

Sometimes I go on a fishing expedition, dipping into a book on one of my shelves searching for an inspiring idea to share with you. I love doing this because it gives me a chance to visit with some of my beloved, trusty old friends — books that I cherish and enjoy returning to. Just this evening, I dropped into Lessons in Living by Susan L. Taylor, a lovely gift from an agent I once worked with. Susan is the former editorial director of Essence Magazine.

For some reason, I turned to page 84. There, Susan talked about a bit of wisdom from Maya Angelou. Every few weeks Maya suggested, we should just take a day off and do absolutely nothing. Nada. Here’s exactly what she proposes: “What we really have to do is take a day and sit down and think. The world is not going to end or fall apart. Jobs won’t be lost. Kids will not run crazy in one day. Lovers won’t stop speaking to you. Husbands and wives are not going to disappear. Just take that one day and think. Don’t read. Don’t write. No television, no radio, no distractions. Sit down and think….Go sit in a church, or in the park, or take a long walk and think. Call it a healing day.”

This sounds challenging, but I like the idea. A day in which you make no demands on yourself; a day in which you just rest in yourself; a day in which your only obligation is to be at home with your thoughts. As Susan puts it, “When we live moment to moment, we place ourselves at the center of life, where infinite wisdom abides…”

As writers and aspiring writers, it’s so important that we nourish and replenish ourselves spiritually and emotionally. How else can we refill our creative well? Maybe taking a day off and just opening ourselves moment to moment to what life offers us can be a fruitful way to keep our creative juices flowing. I think the idea of laying down the burden of being productive and generating results one day every couple of weeks could be very liberating. Spend a whole day doing nothing on purpose and feeling good about it — when was the last time I did that? I can’t even remember. How about you?