“I have sought rest everywhere, and have found it nowhere, save in a little corner, with a little book.” – Thomas à Kempis
I’ve recently arrived at the same discovery as above. For the past month or two I’ve been coming home on a Saturday afternoon around 3pm and sitting in my cool loungeroom and reading on the couch.But. My. God, it’s taken some work to get to this point.Frankly I find it so hard to rest. I’m a gnarly, primordial beast who finds it hard to reverse my hyper, do-ing ways. But, as you’ve probably gathered, it’s become my priority for 2011. Reading, I’ve discovered, gets me focused on resting. It’s a forum for it. It’s still “doing”, but it’s doing in a very gentle, quiet way. I keep the light low and I make a pot of dandelion root, ginger and licorice tea. And I don’t move (which is key).I’ve written in the past that I used to watch or hear about people who could “curl up on a couch and read a good book”. Just that phrase sounded alien. And would upset me. I’d never done it. Couldn’t fathom it. I thought it all seemed too indulgent. Possibly because as a kid if Mum found us reading she read it as “idle child” and would hand us a load of nappies to hang out. But now I can see the point. I’ve given it a broader purpose – to drag down my energy and rest.And. My. God, I need rest these days. I bang on about it. I must find ways to DO it.People like me (and no doubt you, if you’re following me on this blog) often need to trick our go-go-go, hyper-productive minds into seeing seemingly indulgent (non) activities like rest and healing as productive. It’s how we gradually get accustomed to new, gentler ways. We are so damn stubborn, we won’t even try it otherwise.So, please, if you’re like me, try reading. And see if these work for you:
