Today, I rested
Today, I rested. You should rest, too.
We are in busy times. Our bodies are marching, our eyes are reading and seeing, our mouths are having conversations, our ears are listening, our brains are analyzing and trying to understand an immense onslaught of input. There is a lot of new information to process and many of us are eagerly, earnestly trying to interpret as much as we can as fast as we can. And so much remains unknown. Our hearts are heavy. Sometimes, our hearts are light, too, and say hallelujah and other joyful shouts for those times. But it's busy. Active. Tiring. Maybe even exhausting.
If you want to stay engaged, you can't when you are exhausted. You need to rest.
Just as we take an astronomical pause here at the beginning of summer, I am reminded of that liminal holding moment between yogic breathing in and breathing out. Between heading out on an orbital trajectory to our maximum moment before boomeranging back to the other maximum. The moment the pendulum reaches its limit. The top of the arc. The pause in the middle of the action. You cannot have one without the other. Happily, you can create your pause, your in-between time. You can make time to rest.
Tips to rest well:
Abandon stimulation (phone, news, music, conversation, food)
Find a place to sit or lie down undisturbed for 10, 20, 30 minutes, even an hour; you may wish to set a timer to remove any responsibility for *knowing when you're done* if that permits you to let go more
Dress comfortably avoiding anything that is tight or constricts including shoes, glasses, watchbands. Allow all of your body to be unfettered.
If you can do this outdoors in a quiet natural setting, even better. (Although you cannot account for lawn mowers, conversations of passers-by, bird chatter, bugs, etc.)
Get comfortable
Close your eyes or hold a soft unfocused gaze
Breathe
Settle
Breathe
Listen
Breathe
Wonder
Breathe
Let go
When you're done, take a moment to notice a difference in yourself. This is good self-care. You have just taken some time to be present to yourself. You've rested. You can go back to whatever your life is now and fight the good fight.
But, I implore you to come back here to this resting place, this place of self-care, rejuvenation, quiet, acceptance. Come daily. Come as often as you can. You will thank you for it.