Niksen
- “dutch art of doing nothing”
- “niksen meaning”
- “is niksen a real dutch thing”
- “doing nothing on purpose”
01 · Side by side
Side by side
Comparison sheet
| Aspect | Niksen | Mindfulness |
|---|---|---|
| Attention | Undirected | Directed |
| Has a method | No | Yes |
| Dutch connotation | Faintly lazy | — |
| Goal | None | Presence |
02 · Which one you meant
Which one did you mean?
In shortReaders who land here meaning Niksen rather than Mindfulness are usually searching for phrases like “dutch art of doing nothing”, “niksen meaning”, “is niksen a real dutch thing”.
Mindfulness
- “does mindfulness actually work”
- “is mindfulness buddhist”
- “mindfulness side effects”
- “what does sati mean”
03 · Which came first
Which came first
In shortNiksen. 1784–1785 — The base word niks ('nothing') enters Dutch — not as native vocabulary but borrowed from German dialectal nicks/nix, probably carried in by German soldiers.
- 1784–1785
Niksen. The base word niks ('nothing') enters Dutch — not as native vocabulary but borrowed from German dialectal nicks/nix, probably carried in by German soldiers.
- late 1970s
Mindfulness. Jon Kabat-Zinn introduces MBSR, described in the research literature as an intervention package introduced as a complementary therapy for medically ailing individuals.
04 · The mix-up
Where the confusion comes from
The mix-up“Niksen is a long-standing Dutch cultural philosophy, the Dutch answer to mindfulness.”
What's true
The verb is recorded in Dutch print only from 1951 and in dictionaries from 1956, and Dutch dictionaries label it informeel, glossing it 'niets doen, luieren'. It's a colloquialism for idling — roughly 'bumming around' — not a named practice with a tradition behind it.
05 · Read either one