The Joy of Nothing

Looking for the blank spaces

Hello, Lovers of Nothing!

Throughout my accidental career as a poet-cartoonist, I’ve explored lots of unlikely themes.

I’ve written about everything from pirate love letters to the end of the Anthropocene.

But, when I look back at the thousands of poems I’ve written and the hundreds of comics I’ve made, the one thread that keeps popping up is “nothing”.

Nothing allows us to live in the moment, and it is the pure essence of mindfulness. Blank agendas, empty canvases, and resisting the urge to hustle all strengthen the bonds of love and grease the wheels of creativity.

I’m so committed to the joy of nothing that I’ve used that exact line in two different haiku comics, and it pops up ridiculously often in my drafts.

This isn’t even the first essay I’ve started called “The Joy of Nothing”.

Nothing is on my mind today because tomorrow, I’m leaving on my first solo trip in several years, and the only thing I want to accomplish is nothing.

I have no plans outside of seeing a couple of friends. I will eat, sleep, walk up and down the beach, and then do whatever else feels right. That might be making art, or it might be sitting and staring at the horizon. Either way, I will be soaking up the joy of nothing.

For six days and five nights, I will not have to handle anything for anyone else. This blank pilgrimage is a rare, sacred privilege I will not squander.

Florida has many wonderful theme parks that I will not visit. I’m not interested in spending these few days engaged in the intense logistical exercises theme parks have become.

I will rest, recharge, and refuel my creative reservoirs.

I will bathe in the freedom of nothing so that when I return to the ordinary world, I will be ready to do all of the somethings that must be done. However, I will carry a little bit of the joy of nothing with me in my heart as a reminder that from time to time, I need to slip out of the stream of time and just sit in the moment.

When was the last time you experienced the joy of nothing?

Be the weird you want to see in the world!

Cheers,