I was raised by German decent, hard working people. My Dad was up at 5:30am to milk cows and didn’t rest at night until evening chores were done, and even then, if an animal needed help, if he knew a cow was due to deliver any day and it was her first, he was up in the middle of the night to check on her. My Mother, at 88 still works almost tirelessly around the house, garden, yard and anywhere else she is needed.
I get my work ethic from my parents. I am most at home when I am busy doing something, and with work, farm, garden, yard, lake place, etc. there is always something to do. I am one of those people that has had to teach myself that I do not disappear from the earth if I am not productive, and the lesson continues.
So, when recently a friend said to me “it is a great time for you to BE, not DO,” I fidgeted, looked away and said, “sure. I can do that”… maybe, we’ll see.
During a gathering a while back some of us were talking about all things Spirit and one of the women talked about a trip she had recently taken. It was a time of deep rest and retreat. She read books, she took walks, she laughed and visited with friends and family. She let herself simply BE in her own Divine way and space without expectation to DO anything that didn’t feed her Spirit. She skipped out on obligations of others, she let go of people pleasing to keep others content, she didn’t speak with people who drain her energy. She wasn’t rude, she just tended to her own needs in those days without shame or guilt or feeling a need to make up for her self-care. She referred to this time as “Sabbath.” A time of rest.
Some of us shared our association to the word Sabbath as a reference to religion, a day of rest after God created the world, but in this conversation it took on a deeper, richer meaning. In its true form the word Sabbath is from the Hebrew word Shavat – to rest.
We spoke of the ways we do Shavat, the ways we rest, how we retreat to nurture and rejuvenate ourselves, and the importance of doing just that… rest.
In our “constant” culture we are not very good at resting for self care. We have actually turned self care into a “doing” form; get a massage, work out, get a mani/pedi, cook healthy meals, get together with friends. Even what we consider to be self care involves us going outside of ourselves and DOing.
What if we considered it differently? What if we considered that true SELF care is giving ourselves what our body and Spirit truly need. Rest, attention, awareness to our thoughts, feelings, body sensations, emotions. Mindfulness to the moment so we can take inventory of what is perhaps creating distraction in our life, and in our hearts. It occurs to me that while my family is rooted in hard work, there is plenty of time that my busyness takes me out of my authentic experience of my inner self, and keeps me entertained by the doingness of going and doing.
Today, I am sitting on the deck at the lake, writing this blog, next to my husband who is napping in the shade. I read a book, drank iced tea, helped with a couple of small “can you hold this” things while making dinner in the smoker, and not much else. It is a short list, and I LOVE IT!!
Is it that there is nothing else to do?
Of course not. But the not doing for this day holds an incredible sense of luxury for me. To give myself permission to heed my friends advice, and care only for myself in very simple, joyful ways, feels Divine. Like DIVINE, like Spirit is smiling while it curls up with me, head on a pillow and takes a nap, kind of divine. My Soul is happy, my Spirit content, my body thankful, my mind at ease –
Take your Sabbath, on a Sunday, or a Tuesday or any other day that you feel yourself calling from deep inner space, “be here with me, rest.”
You too are creating an entire world.
Rest.
Forever the Journey
Anne