The Greater Good Science Center’s Christine Carter argues that “we have gotten really, really bad at just doing nothing,” and it’s taken a toll.

Stillness—or the ability to just sit there and do nothing—is a skill, and as a culture we’re not practicing this skill much these days….

If we want to be high-functioning and happy, we need to re-learn how to be still. When we feel like there isn’t enough time in the day for us to get everything done, when we wish for more time… we don’t actually need more time. We need more stillness. Stillness to recharge. Stillness so that we can feel whatever it is that we feel. Stillness so that we can actually enjoy this life that we are living.