Italian culture has practically trademarked the concept of _la dolce vita_, a phrase translated as “the sweet life.” But Italians also specialize in a related custom called _dolce far

niente_, literally defined as “the sweetness of doing nothing.” Decades ago, as a boy, then as a teenager and young man, I excelled at doing nothing. My mastery of idleness bordered on

genius. I could easily lie on a beach all summer long without budging, much less feeling guilt. But my attitude about expending energy shifted in my mid-30s. I had a wife and two children to

support. I finally grew a conscience and adopted something unprecedented for me, namely an operative work ethic. From then on, I rarely took my foot off the gas pedal, my eye always on how

philosophy is generally interpreted to mean slowing down enough to come to a standstill and indulge in embracing the smallest, simplest pleasures of life. It could mean daydreaming under a

tree in the countryside or sipping cappuccino in a café watching people parade past. The origin of the term is credited variously to the poet Lord Byron, the Italian adventurer Casanova and

the Roman writer Pliny The Younger, who wrote, “It seems ages since . . . I knew what it was to do nothing, and rest and enjoy that lazy but delightful state of inactivity where you hardly

know you exist.” As it happens, Americans are evidently getting better at it. We now devote more time than ever before, if only slightly, to “relaxing and thinking.” So found the most recent

Time Use Survey from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), released in June 2024. Examples of activities the BLS fits in this category range from “goofing off,” “wasting time” and

“hanging around” to “breaks at work,” sunbathing, sitting in a hot tub and “reflecting, daydreaming, fantasizing, and wondering.”