I'm a person who constantly feels busy, and therefore very stressed. I thought this book might be a good guide for me on showing how to slow down and calm down.

While it wasn't bad, it was kind of boring, repetitive, and seemed to be reaching too hard. Honestly, it just seems like a minimalism or simplifying book to me. I didn't really find many actionable steps, and still don't fully understand what exactly the author means by "doing nothing." Does reading count? Napping? Watching TV?

I think the main takeaway from this book is that we need to simplify our lives and slow down. Point well taken, but challenging to do when we have certain responsibilities.

I don't really recommend this one, though I do think it's important that we take more time for ourselves than most of us do.

I’m a huge fan of books from the self help/self improvement genre, so when I saw this one I had to request to review it. Who in their life right now isn’t constantly busy or feeling overwhelmed, whether it’s work, family, hobbies, pets, etc. I absolutely thought this would be a great book that would give great insight on helping me make some time for myself and enjoy some down time.

I feel like this one just fell flat to me, it pretty much just told me what I already knew I should be doing to he myself. Though the advice given was helpful, it felt extremely repetitive.I did enjoy the sections mentioning meditation, since I love meditating. I really enjoyed the “challenges” that were included, I found them pretty helpful.

Overall I just felt like this book could have been so much shorter, maybe 50 or so pages would have been fine for me. I wouldn’t recommend this one if you are looking to learn anything new, because it is pretty straight forward. It was a quick read for sure and may have been better of just being skimmed.

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Learn to create calm times in your daily life to recharge and rejuvenate the soul.

The Joy of Doing Nothing by Rachel Jonat is a delightful guide to helping the reader regain one of their most valuable assets- their time. This book is all about finding the time to simply sit and recharge, a priceless ability in this day and age. There are six sections covering the philosophies behind doing nothing, learning to reclaim your time, and say 'No’, family life, home & work, and other activities like hobbies and such.

One big lesson of this book is to not feel guilty for claiming time to do nothing. I have this problem a lot. I suffer from an autoimmune condition that saps my strength and energy. I have forced periods of doing nothing because I simply have no choice but to recharge. Yet, I always feel guilty. Reading this helped me find more joy and less guilt in it.

I do feel that the admonishment to “do nothing” was overused, and some things could have been consolidated. Overall, great introduction to learning to find the time you need to recharge and rejuvenate.

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Adams Media for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I admit that I only skimmed this. I found that it was a bit repetitive and most of the tips were fairly simple. People who do need to slow down are not going to be able to finish this, let alone implement any of the advice.

Good book. Not brilliant, but I was able to come away with a few treasures. It could be because I had already began doing most of what Jonat suggests a few years ago - decompressing my life, spending less time in front of electronics and just being. But for someone who is on the verge of burnout, or too busy in their lives, this could be a life saver.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.com

Burn out is OPTIONAL. If you feel like your schedule of activities is dictating your life and you have no control over your time, then it’s time to take a step back and have a good, hard look at your calendar. Take back the power of setting boundaries. The philosophy of doing nothing is about self-care, finding clarity, restoring yourself, feeling more content, being more productive, reducing stress, and so much more. Jonat shares thoughtful advice on how to take control of your time by saying “no”, and disconnecting from tech. There is a difference between doing nothing and procrastination. Procrastination is simply putting things off, while taking the time to do nothing is actually taking mindful breaks.

Teaching yourself and your children the art of stillness will benefit all of you physically and mentally. There are many studies which show how slowing down improves health, and even helps to fight disease. Jonat includes a great how-to guide on teaching children how to do nothing and I’m really excited to see the results for my own kids.

The Joy of Doing Nothing has some fantastic tips on how to take control of your time in order to find some peace. I was once addicted to my phone and social media. I was checking my messages, emails, and social media notifications constantly and I felt ridden with anxiety. A couple of years ago I decided to spend less time on my phone, and more time in the present with my family and friends, writing, reading, knitting, or just plain relaxing. I have to admit, it was HARD. The phone was an addiction for me. I was caught up in the idea that being busy meant I was important. I often hear people almost bragging, or competing about just how busy they are and whoever is the busiest wins. One day something clicked and I realized that is not right and it was contributing to my anxiety big time. I used to suffer from SEVERE anxiety. I used to worry for my entire day. Since reducing my phone time/social media time I almost immediately felt more peaceful. My brain started to slow down.

In January 2017 I made the decision to spend less time watching TV, and more time reading. I bring a book with me almost every where I go, so if I have a little bit of free time I read a few pages instead of looking at my phone. I also started going to bed earlier so I can read 30 minutes before sleep. I used to wake up a million times a night and felt exhausted every day, but now I sleep through the night at least 7 hours and I feel AMAZING.

I have also made changes to our family schedules so we have more time to just BE. I like that the weekends are usually a time for my kids to relax and play with toys, read, write, and colour, instead of rushing around to sports and other activities. My youngest has had less outbursts at home and at school. My oldest has actually said that many classmates have complained to her about their busy schedules and she’s happy that we have lots of relax time in our calendar.

Even though I’ve already been unplugging and making changes to our schedules I still found a lot of value in this short book. There were some great tips on how to use my time, especially “fringe time”, to my advantage in order to find more peace and enjoy life.

I highly recommend this book to EVERYONE. This would make a great Christmas gift to someone you love, especially to yourself!

I really loved this book - as a multi=passionate I struggle with sitting down, let alone doing nothing, so this book was a great choice! There is a gentle humour, but also a serious message about how busy and stressed modern life can be, and that we need to make sure there are pockets of down time' when we turn off our gadgets and just 'be'.
I enjoyed the writing style and read at my own pace as the chapters were clearly titled and well laid out.

As someone who is an expert at doing nothing, these tips were good for those who don't know how to relax. To do nothing is truly nirvana.