I hate naps. I always wake up feeling awful. My mouth is dry, my body feels achy, and I somehow feel more tired than when I went to sleep. But, I rest in other ways. I rest by recharging with loved ones. I rest by watching my favorite TV show. I rest by closing my work laptop and being “done for the day.”
-Tanner Linden (CLF)
How do you rest? How do you recharge?
Once when I described myself as “lazy” someone said, “Whose word is that? Is that your word?” And I realized it wasn’t my word. My words would be rested, thoughtful, cozy, rejuvenated.
-Marin Smith (CLF)
What other good words can replace the negative language we sometimes use about ourselves when choosing to rest?
“Even at rest, tucked within the One, little brown [bats] cannot sustain their usual inner life. Each bat must reset its normal–drastically. Together, hanging very still, they slow their resting hearts from four hundred beats per minute to twenty…”
-Gayle Boss, from “Little Brown Bat,” in All Creation Waits
How might you reset your normal drastically?
When was the last time you slowed down to listen? Did you know you can hear the chattering of grasshoppers at dusk? Have you ever felt the hum of cicadas fill your ears until it drowned out all other sounds? When you take a bite of your favorite food, can you feel the texture of it on your tongue? We were made for these pleasures that come with rest.
-JeKaren Olaoya (CLF)
When you slow down, what do you notice that you didn’t perceive in your hurry?
From an early age, my Dad would wake us kids up by singing a bugle call. Even while on vacation, Dad always had a project going. He rarely took time for himself or his family as he was consumed with fixing, raking, shoveling, inventing. Rest was considered a sign of weakness. Intellectually, I understand and feel strongly about the need to rejuvenate and reset; and in spite of that knowledge, I still feel guilty when I do.
-Beth Murray (CLF)
What suggestions do you have for a person who has trouble slowing down fearing that time to breathe?
