03/13/2025
Here is a lovely excerpt from a friend's newsletter about our need to rest:
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In order to rest, we need to give up our obsessions. We need to make different choices, choosing that which brings us peace above all else. Our physical health, our frame of mind, our willingness of heart all suffer when we are not rested. Our ability to love and to be of genuine service to others is strengthened and enhanced by rest.
Maybe you are ready, as I am, to make rest a priority. Here are some ideas that we can use to create more space for rest in our lives.
Decide that you deserve free, unobligated time. Say “No” more often.
Practice not accomplishing anything for an hour…then an evening…then a day.
Turn off your electronic devices - including (especially) your cell phone.
Sit and look out your window. Then sit some more.
Whatever you’re doing, just do that - without rushing ahead (even inside) to something else.
Slow down. Whatever you’re doing, do it without thinking you need to do it quickly.
Be with someone you love without guilt about not doing something “productive”.
Have a pleasant conversation, just listening, enjoying time together.
Take a long, slow walk to nowhere and back.
Value spontaneity over controlled, pre-planned rigidity.
Spend some time in nature doing nothing but watching.
Leisurely read something you enjoy without feeling you must hurry through it.
Do something you want to do just because you can.
Take a nap.
Stop checking the time.
Stop taking yourself so seriously.
Laugh more. Make others laugh more, too.
Rest in knowing your life is a gift - a gift given by a Giver Who desires your happiness.
