Reflection Two: The Practice of Doing Less

We live in a world that rewards effort. Action. Progress. Even rest is often framed as something to be optimized — another task on the list, another box to check.

But presence asks for something different.

Sometimes the most meaningful practice is doing less.
Less fixing.
Less interpreting.
Less reaching for answers before we’ve listened to the question.

Doing less does not mean disengaging from life. It means allowing life to meet us without interference. It means letting moments arrive as they are, without immediately deciding what they should become.

There are days when the page stays mostly blank. Days when the words do not come, or when silence feels heavier than expected. These days are not failures of practice. They are part of it.

Stillness is not always peaceful.
Slowness is not always comfortable.

Yet even here, something is happening beneath the surface — a quiet recalibration, a softening of the need to control.

The practice does not require productivity. It does not ask for proof. It simply invites honesty — and the willingness to remain with what is present, without rushing to change it.

Sometimes, doing less is the most compassionate thing we can offer ourselves.