Relaxation
Ecstatically
Softens
Time
Transformative
Opportunity
Cycle
Rest and
Expansion with
Awareness that
Transcends
Evolution
It can certainly feel counter-productive and even counter-intuitive to rest when there is only so much time and so much to do. This is a learned behavior/pattern taught by current bizzy culture. It is worth our effort to toss that out and un-code ourselves from this confining and exhausting way of living and being. It is too stressful to live without relaxation. Our bodies and minds suffer. We are lucky if we even notice until a real problem is occuring. It is not natural.
The nature of evolution and creation tells a different story and teaches a different timeline. The cycle of life illustrates that rest, surrender, relaxation, and stillness is part of growth. The pause has merit and is a valuable part of self-care and self-actualization. Relaxation Artists live and breathe the art-form of rest. It is imperative to our vitality. Yes, a body in motion stays in motion, and yet there's too much commotion about constant output. Ignoring the natural rhythmic cycles leads to self-detachment. There is a rhythm to rest even when in stillness. Both subtle and strong. Like when you can hear your heart beat louder when submerged under water. This is part of the art of relaxation. Listening and learning.
Understanding this has been a challenge and heart-centered opportunity on my personal journey in life and work. When we become so busy, we can't hear the rhythm of our own desires we lose a part of our truth and become fractured from this loss. As adults it is easy to grieve for this fact that it was easier as a child. The art of doing less or nothing at all. Unlearning over working has been one of my greatest achievements and I'm not totally there yet. Why would I even talk about this in my studio journal? Because over-working and over-doing almost took me out through burn-out. I did hit a wall and I'm not quite sure when as when I realized it I was consumed with peeling myself away from this wall I had become embedded in. Maybe I became the wall - stiff, overburdened by the structure of my life, in need of a better foundation. Unconventional absolutely, it can be quite disrupting to the lives we've created. It is radical in the healthy sense of the word. Our greatest art is the life we choose to live. Great art needs space, harmony, and time to be enjoyed. Life is the same.
Our Life is Our Art. Our Art is Our Life.
I know I am not alone in this issue. Many are living inches from the wall, their breath muffled so they can sense they are close. Others are in the wall - they have hit it and they are merged into it. Oddly, it can feel nice to have something to hold onto, to lean into, to be held by, but it is not real or lasting support. Different than a rock bottom, which I have also known as my own personal riverbed, hitting the wall can mean you still have it all yet you're not enjoying it as much and you're tired all the time, but you can't get any sleep, and it can lead quickly to a rock bottom of disasters big and small. Strung out. Uppers and downers. You're walking the line. And then there's those of us that were near it, then hit it, then lived there for a while, and then began the deep work of pulling back. Now life/work balance has a whole new meaning.
Health is wealth and rest is simply a part of health and wellness. If you give yourself, and your loved ones, anything this holiday season gift a break from all the reaching and doing and achieving. If you find that you need a vacation after your vacation - it wasn't really a holiday. Maybe take two next time. Or listen to your body and in silence hear your inner knowing - what do I need to feel rested, loved and held? How can I gift this without smashing myself into a blunt end? I've heard one needs 3 weeks to truly unplug. For me it took months, as it was over 2 decades of undoing. I am grateful I was able to take a hiatus to do this and can speak about it now from both a close and a distanced perspective. I can admit I was and still can be taken by workaholism. So now when I rest, I go all out so I can best counter-balance my nature to overwork with gusto. Now when I rest, I consider it an achievement.
Resting and relaxing as an integrated part of your daily, monthly, and yearly cycles is true nourishment for the mind, body, spirit and soul. For decades I was under the impression that I only needed 6-7 hours of sleep, often it was 5, which I thought was fine until I tried 8-10. So now I know 9 hours in bed is golden. What a treat to have some time to linger and lounge. Languid luscious living. Yes. Now that is delicious. Rest isn't the only important aspect of the cycle. It's top of mind now as it's winter solstice in the north and nature begs us to surrender to the coziness of now. It's not like we should not do anything at all, but the pushing and the living up to our ideals as we do in summer is not the self-leadership we all need right now. I've made a pact with integrity and honesty, since greeting and departing from the wall, to be my own best friend and live with the reminder that I deserve to take pleasure and to give space to the stillness as much as I do the exciting busy moments. In fact, the more I play with relaxation and rest the more time I find I have. Stretching time with the art of attention and enjoyment.
"To be like a stone, but without weight” ~Karel Čapek
Writers and Artists have warned us collectively, both boldly and in-between the lines, since the industrial revolutions, and likely before. Probably you could seek evidence since the beginning of our human timeline. We have been infected with the thought that idelness is dangerous. Why listen to those "starving artists" and "crazy writers/philosophers"? We have much to learn from those on the fringe of normalcy. Well... I've put it into practise and I say give it a try so you can feel it for yourself.
I dare you to marinate in the juiciness of your aliveness through the art of relaxation. I'll be chilling like a stone and waiting to witness your aha's.
XONichola
REST
Exhaustion
My body wanes
Muscles feel limp
I'd be relaxed if I had the energy to do so
My mind full of new ideas
Thoughts
Perceptions
Conceptions
Concerns
My eyes grow heavy
Weakened by knowledge
To much of a good thing
To much for now
I must rest regardless of what must be done
Slumber calls my name
The bed beckons me
My blanket flirts of so subtlety with my skin
My pillows caress my scalp
Fingering my hair with its corners
For now I must lay
For now I must rest.
~JLN
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