Ebb and flow characterize existence.
Please discuss. How does this play out in life?
I’ll start us out. We, as a society, are focused on productivity. Accomplishments, learnings/degrees, net worth—these are how we tend to evaluate ourselves. We expect our selves and others to be actively doing and making things happen. Rest we see as an unfortunately necessary physical limitation.
In all of this pursuit of busyness, we tend to forget the importance of the pause. Music without spaces between the notes is merely noise. Seeds need time to germinate. Trees lose their leaves in fall, focus their energy on root development over winter, and then blossom and grow again in spring. The concept of activity and rest is natural to life.
Today’s message reminds me to cherish and value downtime. I should not judge myself as weak or lazy for needing breaks in my progress. Rest is essential to my physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well being. They rhythm of my life can be a joyous dance when I value all its stages.
How about you? What’s your relationship to downtime?