You Need to Nourish Yourself With Deep Rest
A daily reminder to practice gentleness
It’s so funny that as I was browsing cute sleeping kitty photos and getting myself ready to write about the importance of rest, I felt myself trying to fight off the temptation of napping together with my three-year-old boy. Writing about the need to honor our rest gave me permission to have a short restful nap. I will definitely feel more inspired to write about rest after I feel more well-rested!
You need to nourish yourself with deep rest.
How does this statement make you feel? Did you have a “yeah, but..” thought popping up? Did you feel relieved? Did you feel stressed and angry?
Acknowledge your immediate reaction to this statement.
Take a few slow and soothing breaths and come back to this statement again.
You need to nourish yourself with deep rest.
How do you feel about it now? Do you feel more open to it? Does it feel more possible for you to make time and space to enjoy that deep rest more often?
Mental breaks, physical rest, and deep sleep
Our definition of rest has become more blurred. Perhaps this is tightly linked to how our definition of work has shifted in the modern society. Many of us no longer move our bodies much in order to perform our jobs. We are doing much more mentally-intensive labor while sitting for long hours instead.
This shift deeply impacts the way we rest.
In the olden days, working for nine hours means you’ve exhausted both mind and body deeply, and so it is easy for you to plop down on your bed for a restful sleep during bedtimes.
Now, we might need to add more physical exercises, such as a gym workout, a zumba dance class, or a long evening walk, so our bodies can feel physically tired enough to rest.
Another problem is that when we think we are resting physically by sitting or lying in bed, our minds are still getting highly stimulated when we binge-watch Netflix or scroll through social media posts ‘mindlessly’.
So now we can run into these two scenarios:
- Our bodies are not well-rested because they don’t get physically ‘stressed’ enough for deep rest.
- Our minds can get overactive when we’re sleeping, so we don’t get enough deep rest too.
There are other times during the day that we need to be in a relaxed state too. Meal times are a good example. We need to be relaxed enough during meal times, so that our foods get properly digested as well. I’m totally guilty of eating while watching TV sometimes, or checking my phone as I eat. It’s a terrible habit I need to be more mindful of quitting.
It’s no wonder we can get confused about the way we rest, and to ensure that we feel deeply rejuvenated after our rest. Many of us are not getting enough mental rest, and not exercising enough to get good quality physical rest.
Some ways to rest deeply
I’m finding it helpful to acknowledge to myself that resting is part of my work-rest cycle. I need to rest as much as I need to work.
I’ve discovered some great ways to have mental breaks too. Observing nature, such as the trees, butterflies, and clouds in the air is a great way to switch off my mind and practice being at one with nature. Doing things intuitively, such as singing, dancing, and writing intuitively, without censoring anything, is a great way to let myself be awake and not have to over-analyze everything. Doing everyday activities, such as walking or eating mindfully is a great way to be more present with your mind too.
My favorite way to have good quality rest is to do intuitive movement, where I might either listen to a piece of music and move my body intuitively to it, or I can just allow my feelings to move my body without the aid of music. This way, I get a good body workout, and I ease off some pressure from overthinking.
I hope that this has been a useful reminder to practice gentleness for you!
Spotlight on another writer
Today I’d like to share this lovingly tender personal essay from Kim McKinney. I love the way she infuses gentleness in reflecting on her relationship with her mother.
This post is part of my daily infusion of Gentleness in December:
Do click this link to read about the other daily reminders too.
