When we feel torn between being productive and resting, it can help to do a meditation on rest and ask our wisdom.
Here is an extract from my meditation journal, when I did a Wisdom Well meditation on rest.
MIND:
“Should I rest or work? I have a few free precious hours; how should I spend them?”
“Today, I have a few hours. The house is empty; my diary is free.
“What should I do with this time?
“It feels precious, and I don’t want to waste it. But there is a heaviness and low energy from a week of teaching many classes, business meetings, the usual stream of endless decision making that comes with running a business.”
The conflict between tiredness and wanting to make the most out of the time had me procrastinating.
My mind was preoccupied with an urge to find my favourite face cream, scroll through the rabbit hole of social media feeds, find that new perfect place for my chair.
I surrendered.
I decided to Tune In intuitively to see what wisdom had to say.
I closed my eyes, placing this conflicted feeling on the altar of my heart. Reminding myself not to try to be spiritual rather bring the fullness of my raw experience to this moment.
I placed the “What should I do?” question into the open space of my meditation on rest.
The question felt heavy. Which was an important clue; I knew better.
Decades of learning how to meditate in the Wisdom Well Way, of changing radio stations from my surface mind to deeper wisdom, taught me that asking a question with “should” in it is limiting because the deeper truth is there is nothing we should do.
“Should is a lie.” But sometimes we cling to it from fear.
I knew this question would not harvest much from my Wisdom Well; it’s a small bucket. So I crafted a new question with my favourite master coaching question. My go-to bucket to send into my Wisdom Well.
MIND:
“What is the deeper truth?”
Meditation on rest to find the Deeper Truth
I focused on my body, noticing sensations, acknowledging, then setting an intention to open to the deeper truth.
Allowing thoughts and ideas to arise while paying attention to which thoughts brought more openness.
I’ve learned this tells me that I am accessing wisdom. WISDOM OPENS.
The lighter feeling told me that I had dipped deeper than the surface mind.
“What is the deeper truth about resting or working?” I asked again, willing, setting aside any agenda. Surrendered.
Then I waited.
Settling in the feeling of opened peace and letting words arise.
I wrote those words. Knowing that there was no perfect translation, only good enough. And that was OK.
These words arose in response to my question during my Meditation on rest…
WISDOM:
“The hours do not belong to you; they belong to life.
“Just like the seasons belong to life, night and day belong to life.
“Fighting against the natural cycles of time, activity and rest, pushes you out of sync with nature. Your body and mind want to rest.
“Feel the call of rest. How the heart and mind open.
“Open to that openness. Smile. It’s OK. Rest.“
As these words landed, I felt relief.
Trusting the deeper truth, I gave this deeper truth to the cells of my body.
Letting the song of this wash over me.
MIND:
“But it feels like the world is at war; I can’t afford to rest… I need to secure my income… to look after my family… my employees… and the many who depend on my work.”
WISDOM:
“Lay down the burden of doership.
“Remember that life is the doer. Trees know how to grow. Rivers know how to flow.
“Your life knows what to do. When it’s time to be productive, life flows with energy.
“What does your life want to do now?”
MIND:
“Rest and be nourished?”
WISDOM:
“Feel the truth of that.
“A low tide of restful reflection matches every high tide of productivity.
You deny the call of the low tide today.”
MIND:
“Thank you”
And so I rested that day.
Why not guide yourself through a Meditation on Rest when you are fighting your natural need for down time?
