You’re gonna want to sit for this. Today we’re talking about that activity you do without thinking much of it—and sometimes for hours and hours. You might be doing it right now. It’s called sitting. It gets a bad rap: too much of it can lead to poor posture, metabolic issues, and other health problems. Sometimes the worst side effect of sitting is the mental one, such as feeling sluggish or guilty. Science says there is a right way to sit, and a right amount of time to do it.

But there are so many positives to this activity that are taken for granted. Stoop sitting is such an underrated simple pleasure. As is seeing a movie in the theater.When was the last time you sat around a table with loved ones for hours, talking and imbibing? Or sat on a log in the forest, and just listened? Laid flat on the ground and looked at the sky? Sat on a bench at an art museum and gazed at a painting? Leonardo da Vinci worked on the Mona Lisa for something like 4 years—regardless of whether the model posed for him the entire time, that’s quite a lot of sitting. It’s a special kind, though: formal and deliberate. Imagine the silence that might have filled the room, leaving just the sound of da Vinci’s brush strokes. In fact, sitting together in silence can feel like a rare form of intimacy.

Perhaps mindfulness is the component that makes it feel better. When you’re out in the world, all you can control is the way in which you sit. But you can cultivate an environment for it in your home. There’s nothing more beautiful than reclining on your sofa with a glass of wine, music playing, while you take in the art on your wall. And if you can do it rump to rump with someone you love? Even better.