Everything rests if we don’t mess with it.
Deer rest under trees, digesting their food. In late summer the blue tits hang out on branches just swaying with the wind, watching the clouds go by. Our cat does nothing but rest–he’s merged with the sofa cushions.
Yet so many of us have scheduled rest right out of our lives. It’s more of an afterthought–or sudden necessity–than a welcome and natural part of our lives. Even our children don’t get the rest they need so, so much, and boy does busyness cost them dearly.
When we overschedule our kids we rob them of free play, boredom, creativity, self-direction and knowing their passions. And it damages their friendships and social relations too.
As overstretched families, we pass each other in the hallway, driving from one activity, heading to the next. It becomes hard for everyone to sit down for a quiet (or loud) meal together.
Everything rests if we don’t mess with it.
There’s no growth–for us or our children–without ample time to lie on the sun-warmed grass with a toe in the stream watching the clouds drift by. Or at least without enough sleep to recuperate and greet the day again with open arms.
Rest, repose, pausing, hanging out. It’s revolutionary-goes against the cultural grain of the western lifestyle.
And yet it’s perfectly natural.