The Sweetness of Doing Nothing: Live Life the Italian Way with Dolce Far Niente

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When I first arrived in Italy more than 10 years ago, the first two expressions my Italian friends taught me were piano, piano (‘little by little’) and dolce far niente (literally ‘sweet doing nothing’). But the latter phrase made famous by the Eat, Pray, Love book and movie franchise means so much more than its literal translation, that you can practically call it an untranslatable phrase. Filled with sage advice you could only find from a true Italian, there are so many wonderful tips on how to eat better, how to connect more with family and friends, and how to get the most out of this short time we have on this earth. Whatever form it takes, the practice of 'dolce far niente' can have a powerful impact on our overall well-being. Studies have shown that taking regular breaks throughout the day can help improve our focus and concentration, reduce stress and anxiety, and even boost our creativity and problem-solving abilities. Dolce far niente is this sensation when you sit at a bar in an Italian village while you drink coffee and watch the passersby. Time slows and for half a second you admire life in its simplicity, and you only want to smile.

In a world faced with numerous challenges, the UN remains a source of inspiration, offering solutions and unity in times of crisis. But as anyone who has tried meditation knows, doing nothing is surprisingly difficult. How many of us, after 30 seconds of downtime, reach for our phones?

Any other tasks that don’t require 100% concentration also can help, like knitting or doodling. As Virginia Woolf wrote in a Room of One’s Own: “Drawing pictures was an idle way of finishing an unprofitable morning’s work. Yet it is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes comes to the top.” It also doesn’t take much time to undo the detrimental effects of constant activity. When both adults and children were sent outdoors, without their devices, for four days, their performance on a task that measured both creativity and problem-solving improved by 50%. Even taking just one walk, preferably outside, has been proven to significantly increase creativity. That’s all wrong, says poet, entrepreneur and life coach Janne Robinson. “The metaphor I like to use is of a fire. We start a business, and then after a year, it’s like, when can we take a week off, or hire someone to come in? Most of us don’t trust someone to come in for us. We’re like, ‘The fire will go out’,” she says. But ‘rest’, as some researchers point out, isn’t necessarily the best word for what we’re doing when we think we’re doing nothing. While I do enjoy all seasons for their uniqueness and differences, I love winter. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I was born in the winter. I don’t know. I just know that when the dew point drops, the air dries out, and that smell! Is there any name for the smell just before it snows? I once posed that question to my husband who promptly answered: “It’s the de-icer I just put down on the walkway”.

Here’s what a few Italians shared about the saying’s deeper significance, as well as some advice about how exactly you can steal this beautiful concept and incorporate it into your life.A memory comes to mind when you mention il dolce far niente. When I was a child, my parents used to send me to stay with my grandmother while they were at work. She was a warm and caring woman who spent all day doing housework and taking care of her grandkids. One day, I hope will come, when to answer the question we often ask each other — “ so what do you do?”, we can take a long blissful breath, and say…. “nothing”. Dolce far niente (literally 'sweetness [of] doing nothing, sweet idleness') is an Italian saying. [1] [2] [3] [4] See also [ edit ]