[2020-11-07] What I like doing best
One of my guilty pleasures is listening to The Collected Stories of Winnie-the-Pooh, read by Stephen Fry, Judi Dench, Geoffrey Palmer and many others. If I wake up in the middle of the night and fear that I won't readily go back to sleep, I play the stories. Doing so almost never fails to send me back to slumber.
Early this morning, I found myself on the final chapter of the collected stories and was captivated by this exchange between Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh:
Christopher Robin said, "What do you like doing best in the world, Pooh?"
"Well, what I like best—" but then he had to stop and think. "Because although eating honey is a very good thing to do, there's a moment just before I begin to eat it that is better than when I am eating it, but I don't know what that moment's called. And being with Christopher Robin is a very good thing to do. And having Piglet near—a very friendly thing to have. All the same, hmm." So when he thought it all out, he said, "What I like best in the whole world is me and Piglet going to see you and you saying, 'What about a little something,' and me saying, 'Well, I shouldn't mind a little something, should you Piglet,' and it being a hummy sort of day outside and birds singing."
"I like that too. But what I like doing best is nothing."
"How do you do nothing?"
"Well, it's when people call out at you, just as you're going off to do it, 'What are you going to do, Christopher Robin,' and you say, 'Oh nothing,' and then you go and do it."
"Oh, I see."
"It's a nothing sort of thing that we're doing now."
"Oh, I see."
"It means just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering."
"Oh."
There's so much beauty and simplicity in this passage. Like Pooh, I love a little something sweet, even better when I get to share it with someone. I love having friends and family about. I enjoy a day—much like today—when I can be outside with birds singing.
I'm less like Christopher Robin, but am trying to become more like him. Doing nothing has always scared me; I like to be doing something. But when I look at what Christopher Robin means by nothing—"just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering"—I think that I could aspire to doing that kind of nothing.
What I like doing best in the world is walking in the woods with my husband or one of my kids; it's even better when we're all together. Sitting outside on my deck. Sharing delicious food with others. Listening to good music. Writing. Finding meaning in a book or other art form. That's what I'm spending my days doing—focusing on today and not bothering about tomorrow. It might sound like nothing. And that's perfectly fine.
