Recently my family and I have been having a short season of total rest – son had annual factory shutdown-cum-leave time, daughter and son-in-law vacation time with us, other son successfully completed university admission procedures, hubby retired from work and I had my heart and hands full with all of these as a bouquet of satisfaction!
An unprecedented time of total tuning down caused me to truly understand how totally refreshing rest is!
Pulling back to rest, stepping away from schedule, relaxing from intensive work, moving away to new location, spending quality time together, intentional laying aside of activity and cessation from busyness are sure keys to physical, mental, emotional and spiritual renewal. Such overhauling of all systems is mandatory necessity for holistic life and living today. It is not an optional luxury in these stressful times that we live in, but a real-time urgent necessity and need. It is more commonsensical and wise to spend for and on a timeout, rather than on costly medical procedures and treatment. Prevention is surely always better than cure, and besides, this one has literally no side effects to it!
Ironically, many form and organize even a vacation into a pressurised block of time, packing it chock-full of various events and activities. It is distressing to see such folks return from a holiday more tense than ever before. Imagine making even a vacation into a strenous workout!
Most often than not, what is needed is just simple rest and good nutritional intake rather than a costly outing that strains the budget, adding to the load. Nothing is so good as a long, alarm-free sleep, bolstered with and by a lack of deadlines. Just letting go of an agenda will work wonders for many a one who is simply used to running a constant mechanical life. Even the pendulum of a clock is brought to rest to release tension and restore equilibrium. A combination of good food, good sleep and good solitude is often a surefire and simple remedy for stress!
Coming apart to a desert or desolate place truly helps in realigning priorities, weighing pros and cons of activity, weeding out the irrelevant and focusing on only needed realities. Without an intentional time of solitude and reflection, we would end up expending our energy, scattering our attention and generally getting distracted from realisitic ground necessities. That’s why attending a funeral often helps in coming to terms with real life, for it pulls us up and out of a benumbed stupor of activity and frenzied running after many things. It is pressing the pause button on our mad routine to assess the fragility and frailty of human existence. It helps take stock of and accept our humanness.
A sabbath rest and sabbatical time is the need of the hour for sustainable living and conservation of strength. Without renewal and rest we would soon, without effort, unconsciously slide into robotic existential lifestyle. We would probably soon reach an early grave.
Let’s wake up to the need for some, plain, good, old-fashioned rest. Let’s come apart before we become jaded and come apart!
MULLINGSPICE 