Your Daily Brush: Shabbat - the Secular Wisdom of the Weekly Day of Rest
Regardless of your spiritual path, we can all draw from the wisdom of Shabbat and Sabbath of the Judeo-Christian traditions. Everyone needs rest including you!
Dear Friends,
As we come to the end of the week, I invite you to step back, in whatever way you can, and rest.
Rest is an essential part of mental hygiene and we can all benefit from intentionally pausing from the hectic pace of modern living. This helps restore our bodies and supports our resilience in the face of life’s stressors.
Even if you are not religious, setting time aside for a secular Shabbat (as the day of rest is called in Judaism) or Sabbath (as it is referred to in Christianity) can be beneficial, especially in terms of being at your best over the long run.
How you spend your day of rest is up to you. It could be quiet time spent reading an inspiring book or listening to relaxing music. Or it might mean getting together with friends in an easygoing way, i.e. no pressure to cook a fancy meal. Or it might mean walking in nature. Or it might mean just sitting back and putting up your feet, like in the photo below.
What matters is that you commit to regular rest even when things feel hectic. It is easy to use the week for our jobs and save the weekends for errands and housework. I know I fall into this trap and so do many of my friends.
But in the long run, this is counterproductive.
To be productive, we need to pause from all tasks and rest.
If you have to work on weekends, like I often do, then consciously carve out time after work to have a designated period of rest. Make it a non-negotiable and don’t let housework scope creep into your designated rest time.
Rx: Get creative about how you rest, when you rest and who you rest with. But regardless of the who, what and when, you have to do it for your wellbeing. Rest is an essential part of everyone’s mental hygiene.
To your health!
