Rest

Sometimes rest is truly the most aligned action in any given moment.

Most of us are raised in a society structured around continual productivity, as a sign of being a successful human and the way to meet your goals.

We are conditioned to associate rest outside of sleeping with laziness, depression, or something being "wrong".

Especially for those of us who have experienced trauma in our lives (I want to say this is 90% of the world population in general), periods of rest throughout the day are invaluable in regulating a stressed nervous system.

My kitty teachers have been the maestros showing me how easy it can be to just stop what I'm doing in any given moment and take a pause, to just "be", in stillness, in quietude, allowing my mind and body a break from activity, even if for 5 minutes.

These little periods of rest I find actually result in me being MORE productive than spending my day continually "doing" from a place of perhaps feeling tired and relating to the tasks at hand as a burden.

When I find myself relating in this way, I take a pause. Sit in nature, practice yoga, lay down and breathe deeply. Sometimes it's 5 minutes, sometimes it's an hour. This allows me to return to whatever needs doing feeling refreshed and bringing my love and full attention to what I'm doing.

How can you slow down and incorporate rest into your daily life?