Allowing Ourselves To Rest
Today I am writing about the need to rest. TLDR: It’s OK to give yourself rest. To maximise the benefits of the rest you have to allow yourself to enjoy it fully, and relax. This means neutralising the negative talk, amplified by the ‘internal capitalism’, which will no doubt be barking at you “You need to do work!” You don’t, right now. That will come. Listen to your body and slow down. PS. Let others know you are doing this to manage their expectations, before you rest.
If you follow my posts you’ll see that my intention for the new year is “To give myself the loving discipline that I need” and within that, I posted recently about ‘Committing to Your Deep Truth: Your Mission’ and ‘The Attention Wars — Know Your Enemies’. You can expect more posts like this as I push myself to become better, stronger, wiser and to work harder. However, there are times, like this morning, when my body is loud and clear — you need to rest.
I woke up this morning feeling rough. I did a ‘Gratitude Snooze’ which was lovely and then upon the next alarm, I counted down from 5 and jumped out of bed. I recently read the 5 am club and whilst I’m not up for getting up at that hour, I am m making my wake up time more consistent and gradually earlier. At part of Sharma’s theory of 20/20/20, I was up for some exercise, but as I began I realised my body was not feeling good. I questioned if this is a ‘trauma reaction’ and my body responded with a resounding ‘No — please I need rest!’. OK so I would do my normal routine.
- First, clear my room slowly and prep tea.
- Then sit down and meditate in the glow of the SAD lamp. This part made me really tune into the body and its need for rest.
- Next, mirror talk. I am re-fathering myself with the internal ideal dad, the man in the mirror. He checked in with me and reassured me it’s OK to tend to my body today and that I’m loved no matter what. This was lovely.
- I followed it up with some journaling. A new system inspired from Sharma’s book which I call BILGE (the water that collects at the bottom of a leaky boat — the idea is that every day we bale out the bilge, metaphorically, onto paper — express it through writing). It goes like this:
- B: Brain dump — Take all the things on top of your mind and write them here, in their uncensored, raw form. No fixing just dump it. (If you feel you need to fix it you can use the STOP technique later)
- I: Ideas — Are there creative and curious ideas on your mind?
- L: Lessons — Were yesterday’s or this morning’s events educational in some ways?
- G: Gratitude — Listing a few things you are grateful for can shift your mindset.
- E: Excitement — What are you excited about today? This gets the mind looking ahead with energy and enthusiasm.
With that, I was up and ready for a little movement. I put on my favourite workout playlist and it reminds me to (in the words of Joe Rogan): “Do something, it doesn’t have to be a lot, jump a little rope, walk up some hills, just do something. Your body has requirements, it needs to move, and when it does you feel better.” So I went for a wee run and then did a wee workout. Not as much as on my plan. I felt better. I felt much better. I had a cold shower, I ate food and I planned my day.
Here’s the part where I thought I would be fixed and then… energy crash. Turns out I can’t just expect my body to be better with a little fresh air and exercise. So I started my workday with a Hypno nap — listening to Paul Mckenna, hot water bottle on my back and one on my eyes (also cleaned my eyes with saltwater as they have been flaring up a little- a sign that my body is struggling). This was so delicious. Throughout the nap, I would neutralise the negative mind that worried I’m being lazy and should be working. I would have to do this continuously today. Capitalism, which I believe is great, also has a dark side. Internalised it can shame us into workaholism and never allow us to rest. We need rest, especially when the body is struggling.
So I sit here writing this. I could be doing other things, but no. Do something! This is enough. It keeps me inspired and ticks of something on my to-do list. Sure, not the most important thing, but I’m building momentum (So I tell myself) and it feels good.
I post this now in the hope that you are able to tune into what your body needs and neutralise the negative thoughts of internalised capitalism. Good luck my friends.
Time for another nap I think.
Edit: A lesson I learned after this is that it would have been helpful to send a quick email to a couple of clients, who were waiting for information, to let them know there would be a delay.
