Why Rest Can be More Important than Productivity

This year has been exciting and exhausting at the same time. So much has happened and all of a sudden, it feels like the year flew by. We just returned from traveling to Michigan to visit my husband’s family for Thanksgiving and I cannot believe the holiday season has arrived.

It’s been a sporadic year of posting on my blog. I have several posts started but they seem to trail off kinda like my brain has all year long. This year was a whirlwind of activity and travel. With all the travel, excitement and activity, I didn’t really take the time to slow down and rest.

Last month, I sent in the manuscript for my third book. I felt a wave of accomplishment rush over me and then the familiar wave of “what’s next” well up. But, I know better now and stopped that wave from overwhelming me and decided to just be.

I wanted to feel the accomplishment and revel in the excitement of another book becoming. I also wanted to slow down and just be still. I have been learning the beauty of stillness for the past several years and continue to fully embrace the lesson when the need to achieve arises.

Allowing everything to stop is scary. We live in a culture that posts everything from our greatest accomplishments to the food we eat.

What if we just stopped and took the time to be present, sans phone and filters?!

In silence, we are able to hear answers that have been drowned out by to-do lists and busy work. We can feel more connected to our minds, bodies and souls. There is a fullness to silence that a busy schedule can’t achieve.

Stillness has become comforting to me like the wool blanked my sister brought back from Ireland. I can rest knowing that all is well and will continue to be well.

All the energy we put into our work, relationships and ideas will result into something. Even if it’s not what we had exactly planned, something will come of our efforts. We have to give the universe some space to meet us halfway. If we spend all our time striving and pushing, we miss the magic that life has to offer.

I’ve fallen victim to the need to produce, upgrade, move, buy and search so many times. This mindset creates a furnace of anxiety and discontent. Stillness shows us that we are enough, have enough and that the universe is abundant.

When I allow everything to be still, I notice how full life really is.

When we approach life with the mindset of enough, we see that our needs are always met. Slowing down helps us appreciate time more and see that there are enough hours each day. Silence allows for a supple journey inward where we can hear our intuition speak. Stillness allows our bodies the much needed time to relax and restore.

Over the past several years,  I have found that there are several ways to invite stillness into your life. Here are are a few examples:

• Rest and relaxation
• Meditation and prayer
• Sitting in nature
• Savasana (corpse pose in yoga)
• Taking a bath
• Putting work or projects away, even if not completed
• Alone time

I encourage you to find your favorite way to find stillness this season. Take the time to steal away and make space for your soul to soar and mind to rest. Allow silence to take over as you melt into a new awareness.

Say no to things that drain you. Let boundaries stay where they need to be. Welcome the winter season for what it was meant for: hibernation and rest. Spring will soon arrive.

May your season be beautiful and slower. May you rest well and appreciate your own company more.