BY JEEYOON KIM

During the holiday season, as much as it feels a bit abnormal for me to have these days without an agenda, I am aware that we all need more lazy days.

According to the famous Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, a lazy day is a day for us to be without any scheduled activities.

We just let the day unfold naturally, timelessly.

The Healing Power of a Lazy Day

On this day, we have a chance to reestablish balance. We might go for a walk, read a book in a park or by the fireplace, dine with the family, write a card to a friend, or do a sitting meditation in nature. It can be a day to look deeply into our friendship with ourselves or with others.

Or we may learn that we just need to rest.

I remember those days when I came to my mom’s house in Korea and spent days just sleeping— that feeling of being able to fully rest the mind and body at home, at last.

Learning to Rest, Just to Be

We are often wired to seek entertainment or feel uneasy about being bored constantly. Thích Nh?t H?nh says, “A lazy day is a chance to train ourselves not to be afraid of doing nothing.

You might think that not doing anything is a waste of time. But that’s not true.

Your time is first of all for you to be—to be alive, to be at peace. The world needs joyous and loving people who are capable of just being.

People sometimes say, ‘Don’t just sit there; do something.’

But we have to reverse that statement to say, ‘Don’t do something; just sit there’ in order to be in such a way that peace, understanding, and compassion are possible.”

May your life have more lazy days when you can calm your inner storm, fully be in touch with yourself, rest, don’t think, and regenerate yourself so that you can be better equipped to be understanding and compassionate with the world and yourself.

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Jeeyoon Kim is an award-winning classical pianist, author, and podcaster known for her engaging and innovative approach to connecting audiences with music. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Conrad, and at venues across the United States and abroad. Her books, Whenever You’re Ready and Ever the Beginning, which she co-authored, share reflections on life and music. Her podcast Journey Through Classical Piano invites listeners into the beauty of the art form. Originally from Busan, South Korea, she now makes her home in San Diego. You can find Jeeyoon Kim online at https://www.jeeyoonkim.com/

Well Being Journal adapted the above excerpt from Beyond the Keys by Jeeyoon Kim. Copyright © 2025 by Jeeyoon Kim and reprinted with permission from Greenleaf Book Group.