The Four Forms of Rest
The first step in creating Healing & Growth in one’s life is rest. It is a lifelong practice. It is often one of the most difficult challenges for modern humans. Most of us have no idea how fatigued - physically, emotionally and spiritually - we have become.
This simple yet clear framework offers an opportunity to rest and regenerate in four forms:
Sleep til Rested
Initially set aside a minimum of 9 hours for sleeping. If you wake up mid-cycle or before you intended to awaken, continue to rest even if you are not sleeping. If it is challenging to get to sleep, focus on your pre-sleep practices. Extend the time you allocate for settling down to sleep. Consider a shower, yoga or stretching, meditation, reading, journaling, or gentle recorded sounds. Listen to a podcast that is not overly stimulating. It is more than OK to rest. To not do. It is needed in order to Heal & Grow. It is not time wasted. It is time invested in coming to life more fully. Some need less sleep, others, more. Either way, all of us need a lot of rest. Remember, you are likely regenerating your body, mind and spirit after many years of insufficient rest. You as well are learning how to do things in a restful way.
Practice Not Doing Each Day
Allow yourself a period or periods of time where you do nothing each day. Not doing may include entertainment such as reading or TV watching, it might be a gentle walk in the neighborhood or nearby your workplace, it may be sitting on the porch watching life unfold around you. Practice letting go of the anxious, worried and frustrated thoughts when not doing. They are draining you.
Take Many Short Breaks Each Day
Throughout your day, pause and step away from your activities/work. When I say step away, I mean it literally. Step away and move your body for 5-10 minutes. Give yourself an opportunity to do a reset. Do this no matter how pressed for time you may feel. If anything, you need this break more when you are feeling pressed for time. The same applies if you are feeling like you are in a flow. Still step away. It will pay off many-fold once you allow resets and the work process to be regular companions. You will find yourself over the space of most days more energized and more effective in your endeavors. For those whose work may not allow for short breaks throughout the day as I’m encouraging, step away to the restroom and do your reset there. Breathe, stretch, let go through your breath the tensions of the day.
Rest the Mind as a Multi-Daily Practice
Each morning begin your day with a breath focused meditation. Set aside 5-10 minutes to begin. Build your meditation time to a minimum of 15-20 minutes each morning. Don’t concern yourself with being good at it. It takes practice. It will take months in some ways and years in other ways before meditation becomes more fully embodied. Let this be OK. What matters is making it a practice every morning. After a few months of practice, introduce a mid-day practice of meditation. After a few more months of practicing two times per day, a clear sense of a stillness practice begins to develop. In cultivating a stillness practice the inner observer begins to reveal itself. This revelation of the observer serves to guide one's actions in presence and shifts one's relationship with unnecessary suffering. We learn to catch ourselves before we react and fall into unnecessary suffering.
Excerpt from Language of the Soul: A Path of Simplicity; Chapter Two: Healing & Growth