Happy & Blessed Sunday Dear One's.
Today's post is perfect for a Sunday and as part of Self-love. We already talked about the importance of sleep but we need to discuss rest.
Aren't they one and the same you ask?
Actually, no.
They are both in the same vein but very different from one another.
Sleep is usually at the end of the day, is supposed to be an 8 hour affair, and is a physiological necessity for optimal health, detoxing of our organs, & survival.
Without sleep we cease to function and quickly expire.
Rest, however, is important for learning based on outward and inward attention studies with regards to cognitive function. Rest, like sleep helps with learning but in a different way. At the University of California accumulated research suggests when we rest, our sociomotional functioning or self-awareness & moral judgement, along with different aspects of learning and memory centers in our brains, are most active. This is when we are processing what we have learned, making sense of it, and finding our place in the moral/educational/expressive landscape.
Unfortunately, children and adults alike are being rushed through life, pushed to succeed, work at frenetic paces and we as a society do not value or understand the importance of rest. Not only that we often vilify those who have need of it and all too often view the need for rest as a weakness. We humans are one of the only species on the planet that assumes guilt or places guilt on others, over the need to rest.
You'll say that we need sleep but not rest, famously people repeat the oft quoted, "rest when you die", or "there is no rest for the wicked".
But you would be mistaken if you took those words at face value and did not bother to delve more deeply into the value and necessity of rest.
Animals all over the world value rest as a way to conserve energy, rebuild lost energy after dealing with life & death situations, to build closer bonds in their communities/families, or to just to take it easy when weather and life come together. It's not something they fret over, deny themselves, or even consider as a negative. It increases their chances for survival and passes time when needed.
From comfy on a lily pad frogs to bears on a log,
Or cute pandas lying on one another while they chill...
Sweet foxes in a field of wildflower's, and those most famous napper's we all know and love...
Cats
We could learn a lot from them.
There are so many noises and restless places in the world, so much to achieve, seize, make more of an effort for, work harder at, make yourself stressed and miserable over, accumulate and ignore basic needs for.
This constant go-go-go attitude is leading us down a road of impaired thinking, weakened immune systems, performance anxiety, weight gain, depression, prescription and self-mediation problems, an inability to wind down and stop our minds and bodies racing. A perpetual feeling of incompleteness that swallows us in its lonely sorrow.
People, we need to understand that rest comes in many shapes and sizes and is not a bad four letter word. Somewhere in time we equated rest with idleness and I am not talking to the people who are truly idle; I am talking to those of us who struggle to be still and just take it easy, slow down and stop.
I am just as guilty of overdoing and refusing to rest as any other, however, I am learning to accept and enjoy the need and benefits of rest.
God rested on the seventh day, after he worked hard he knew that a day of rest was not only important; but sacred. Rest, a concept that is valued, the need for it acknowledged, and mentioned with utter kindness and understanding in the Bible.
Resting does not always mean napping, it's about taking a time out, doing something that is just for you, allows you to be creative and happy without pressure to perform.
Have a cup of tea while enjoying a creative outlet without needing to quantify the moment.
Not how long, how much you accomplished, how much more to do-none of that. Just a restful wander into your creative side while taking it easy. The tea helps to remind you that you are taking a slow-it-down moment.
Or a lovely nap is quite fine too...
Give yourself permission to have the moment...
I leave you with a prayer and gentle loving thoughts, that you deserve to find rest and embrace the time to love yourself to the fullest. Be good to yourselves and God bless you!
