I’ve often found that other languages offer words that manage to capture particular feelings or states of mind that English can’t. I recently learned a new Japanese word, boketto, and it means something like looking off at a distance without thought or intention, just gazing out at the world. To me, it means taking a mental break which can be tough to do in our world where productivity and multi-tasking are prized.

Though it might seem easy, boketto is hard, given our cultural proclivity toward nonstop work. In fact, in practice boketto seems similar to a familiar English word: laziness. In an effort not to be lazy, we push ourselves to do more and rest less. Our standards for what we think we should accomplish in one day far exceed our time and energy, and as a result, we end up feeling like we are on a hamster wheel with no hope of ever reaching an endpoint.

That’s why we need boketto. That’s why I need boketto, those few moments of gazing into the distance without planning what I’m going to do next . Noticing the wind moving through the wind chimes on a small tree in my backyard. Watching a gecko do pushups on a rock in the sun. Seeing the still presence of the nearby foothills. No judgments, no figuring anything out. Just boketto.