Soul Blossoming A to Z: R is for Rest

Rest: cease work or movement in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover strength. (Google dictionary)

It’s the weekend–time to relax and recharge

—and rest, because today is also  day in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.

Rest: Why You Get More Done When you Work Less by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

Scientists working 35 hours a week were half as productive as their 20-hour-a-week colleagues, while workers who put in 60 hours or more were the least productive of all.
The daily routines of some of history’s most influential thinkers also support the notion that knocking off work at lunchtime won’t necessarily kill your productivity for the hours you do work.
The hours these luminaries spent in “Deliberate rest,” Pang contends, were as important to their work as time spent actually working. (from a summary of the book)

I read this inspiring book a year or two ago. I’ll share some of my biggest takeaways:

1. Rest and work aren’t opposites, but part of a whole. Working for about 4 hours with focus and mindfulness leads to optimum creativity.
2. Importance of morning routines. Many studies show that working at your non-peak time (eg in the morning if you’re a night owl (like me!))can enhance creativity
3. Importance of routine in general in inviting in the muse (AKA butt in chair)
4. After a good morning’s work, a walk clears the mind–insights often come during this time of resting the mind and moving the body.
5. Naps!!!!! in the afternoon–stop before you’re too tired. (I often don’t do this, but I’d like to–I often rest in the afternoon, though, for a little while)
6. Leave something unfinished–so you have a place to start when you come back.
7. Recovery time is crucial to creativity–this includes relaxation, deep play (I just wrote about play a couple of days ago), exercise, control and mastery–having control over how you spend your time, also vacations and creative breaks.
8. He also writes about sabbaticals–long breaks from work and the importance of travel which mixes familiar and unfamiliar elements.

Carving out rest-time

Alex points out that we have to carve out time for rest–it doesn’t just come to us. That has certainly been my experience. Busyness, he says, is an obstacle to our creativity and success. Deliberate rest can help organize your life and keep it calm.

I read a great article in Gateways–which is the journal of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America–entitled Balance in Living: Saying Goodbye to the Martyr in Us by Rosa Barocio. She gives the following description of work as a Waldorf teacher:

As teachers we have ennobled struggle and suffering. The bigger the rings under your eyes, the larger the halo over your head. The more exhausted you feel, the better teacher you must be. Complaining becomes the underlying tone of every conversation between teachers: “It’s this time of the year, you know, never enough time to finish reports, to do evaluations, and we didn’t come out of the meeting until midnight!” Sounds like we should be giving Oscars to the most impressive martyrs in Waldorf education!

I’ve definitely been there–and I’ve given it up, too, as did Rosa. But I don’t think Waldorf teachers are alone in this glorification of overwork and the sacrifice of our health and personal lives.

Now imagine me with my fist raised in the air: But now, I say, it’s time to change things. Then I yawn. I’m off to take a nap, I say. Through napping, I take my stand (Haha) against the craziness of life’s expectations of me. Napping is a form of protest–power to the people (power naps are good, too)

My doctor actually told me once (when I was in my 40s) that when I felt tired, I should rest. I laughed because it was both ridiculous that a grown woman should need to be told that and also true that I needed to be told that. I’m not sure that I took his advice back then, but I’m still working on it–and doing better!

The use of life

I’ll end with a quote I found in Rest:

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”
― John Lubbock

Take a stand for yourself–blossoming requires rest as well as activity.

And thanks for stopping by.

xoxo