If nothing is an option, do that. But furlough the head. Do it with your whole heart, as if you had 90 seconds to live—alert, aware, not thinking. This is a profound and dynamic state. Laozi: “When nothing is done, nothing remains undone.”
Some Jungian analysts believe that the first 45 minutes after awakening are uniquely generative and creatively potent. The mind is still, savouring its experience of liminal space, and ego’s defence systems are down. The question “What’s next?” does not occur.
If I do not desire anything and I am not afraid of anything, then the mind is quiet. Not asleep or chewing its cud, but alert, watchful and ready. Like a top-of-class majordomo.
A quiet mind is a powerful tool. So is a cordless drill.
In order to use the drill, the drill must be off. If some mischief-maker locks the trigger, and the drill is madly spinning, the drill is useless. It must be “off” before the screw can be set. And, properly, it is “off” vastly more than it is “on”.
Ceaseless thinking is a morbid activity. It hastens dementia.
Men's Work 