This week I am sharing with you a subject I find very challenging at times - rest and relaxation! It may seem such a natural thing to do. However, the secular world try’s to condition us to feel otherwise. How do you answer when asked - ‘what have you been up to lately’? Like most of us you probably say - ‘I’ve been really busy’ or ‘it’s been non-stop’! It feels difficult to say we’ve been resting or relaxing, maybe it’s just me... This week I’m sharingthoughts on resting and relaxation. Let’s begin, I’m sure you are in!
“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are”.
Chinese Proverb
We are surrounded by such beauty, in our garden of life. Nature with its divine love, provides us with so much. Yet, due to systems that have been constructed to keep us busy with the secular world, and especially in the last few decades, to keep us busy with a variety of electronic devices, relaxing at times can feel too much of a guilty pleasure!
I have been busy for many decades with a variety of secular jobs. It has at times conditioned and programmed my thinking! Do you sometimes find it a challenge to press the pause button? I do! However, I have learnt over the last year or so the tremendous benefit of rest and relaxation.
Isn’t it interesting that we differentiate between work and rest, the stereotypical view conveys - we go out to work all day and then we come home to rest! During these times of ‘social distancing’ and ‘lockdown’ the dynamic of life has changed for an entire planet! How can we manifest this change of dynamic in our daily lives? I have to confess it took me a few weeks to get used to not going out to work! Like yourself, I am busy with many things. We all have individual purpose and also collective purpose. it’s about growth and finding a new way. Even NOW we should rest.
It is truly a blessing to be given the gift of creation and creativity! In individuality, we all have that gift. These days, I am finding that there is an overlap in life. Let me explain. I am confident that my experience will benefit you. The key is to find the rest and relaxation in the thing we are doing, or equally not doing. discover the things you love and try to do them at least once a day, in a mind and heart filled with gratitude. In this past week, I have carried out a self development experiment, whereby even in the simplest and most apparently mundane of tasks e.g. washing up, I have tried to find rest, relaxation and joy. Relaxation is not always about stopping and doing nothing.
However, if things become too stressful (sometimes in the past I may have got frustrated with a technical issue relating to my music for example), a good tip is to gently remove ourselves momentarily from the task at hand. Consider the words of one of the most creative people of all time:
“Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen”.
Leonardo da Vinci
Life is about perspective and context. living is about finding space to move and again to grow. If I use my songwriting as an example at this point. Previously, I have been very focused on the upload of my thoughts, as opposed to the download of universal thoughts. Let me explain. We are thinking all of the time, our mind is in activity with a variety of thoughts. Through my songwriting, I have the privilege through the wonderful process of releasing thoughts into a lyrically creative space. However, I have not always left space open for the downloads! We could view a walk into nature, a meditation or another activity of mindfulness as taking us away from our creative work. The truth of the matter, it’s completely the opposite! In times of less direct activity, I have found even greater creative activity. When I am relaxing, resting and breathing into natural flow, my creativity, sense of purpose, and joy and gratitude increase considerably! With the creation of the album ‘Garden of Life’, I have experienced the full realisation of resting into creativity.
Relax into your purpose. Lower your heart rate at times. Meditation has many forms and it is such a worthwhile practice. Have fun, enjoy what you do and experience love and gratitude in all you do and don’t do. Life is a gift and we should use it to the full. Relaxation enables us to enjoy more life. I leave you here (I’m off for a rest 😉) with some fun to enjoy... you will love it! The 8th track from my album ‘Garden of Life’... ‘Happy Ever After’. Enjoy it and join me in OUR ‘Garden of Life’, it’s a very uplifting and relaxing listen.
Love,
Ray xx
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