Rest as Action
Ironically, living in NY has for the first time, made me conscious of my need to rest. And perhaps for the first time in a while I am understanding that rest (reflection, relaxation, breathing) is action, too.
I thought I would take a moment to reflect on this, after find rest a confluence for this week’s conversations.
It started with beautiful Diana’s reflection (paraphrased) - "for the first time in history, in a world where things operate 24/7, no-one takes their day of rest. Even our Gods had days of rest…now no-one does".
This thought caught me, as did a number of other’s: - two friends seperately spoke of enjoying the breaks between busy moments (thanks K and Shell) - A colleague shared how one of his important lessons to clients he coaches is to have them sit down and enjoy the view from where they are on the(ir) proverbial mountain…(thanks Geoff) - and thanks Zern
This sea has brought me back to a lesson passed on inspiring Sharon: "my 72-year old yoga teacher says that the rest between active postures is as integral and important a holding the posture".
As with many ’counter-intuitive’ things, rest IS action.
It is just that we have begun to believe that we don’t need rest. Yet, humans are not machines. The challenge, at least for me, is giving myself permission for this…there are always more things to do, but part of the doing is the resting…and as with all patterns that we begin to change, the path that is more well-worn and familiar seems mighty easier than the new path…still I think there is a valuable lesson here for us all.
Resting is action, it is an active part of our growth.*
*I once read that in our growth spurt in adolesence, we grow more when we sleep…if this is true, then rest is definately integral to growth…if this is true in the physical, why not in the mental? It all happens in the same body…And from memory it is also when you catch the best fish…
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