Taking Time to Rest-My Simple 4 Step Relaxation Method

It’s time for another tip of the week (if you’d like to read more of my helpful tips, click HERE for those archives)! Today’s Topic of Inspiration is Rest.  REST. Ahhhhhhhhh.  Do any of you need a little of that today?  We live in a world that is so hurried.  There is so much information out there.  So much social media.  So much to keep up with.  We all need a day of rest.  We all wear so many hats : Wife, Husband, Mother, Father, Teacher, Caretaker, Employee, Friend, etc.  Even God took a day of rest.

Something that we often forget in this fast paced modern world, is that we were created to rest.

Here are some of the ways the dictionary defines Rest:

1. To cease work or movement in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover strength.
2. Freedom from activity or labor
3. A state of motionlessness or inactivity
4. peace of mind or spirit
5. To be free from anxiety or disturbance
6. Allow to be inactive in order to regain strength, health or energy.

What words stick out to you in the definition above?  I see these words most strongly : Cease, Freedom, Peace, Allow.  What if we rearrange these words to define REST as :

“Cease.  Allow Peace & Freedom.”

 

Pretty powerful, huh? If only it were that simple.  It can be though, right?  We can make a conscious decision to rest when our bodies are telling us we need it.  The formula is simple:

  CAPF:

• Cease:  Stop what you are doing for a little bit (or for a long bit if need be!)
• Allow:  Give yourself PERMISSION to rest.  Do you ever feel guilty for resting?  I know I do a lot and that is a big reason why I end up exhausted from overdoing.  I will tell myself  “But there is so much to be done!  I have emails to respond to , business stuff to do, chores/cleaning, blogging, etc. etc.”  I bet you can relate to this “But..But…BUT…” self talk sometimes too.  Put the buts aside for a minute (who needs to be surrounded by buts all the time anyways hehe 😉 ) .  Will the world end if you allow some rest ..aka some time to do practically nothing?  No.
• Peace: Now that you have eradicated the buts in your life ( I give you permission to chuckle here), breathe in and out slowly.  It may take your body some time to wind down and start to feel at peace.  After all, we are running around like chickens with our heads cut off half the time!  Peace doesn’t always come easy!  It takes awhile to calm all the adrenaline and cortisol down (aka nasty stress hormones).  As you breathe in and out, become aware of your body.  Allow yourself to let go of any thoughts and just let them pass through casually like a bunch of white puffy clouds passing by.  Don’t try to hang on to any thoughts and just breathe in and out as you focus on the stillness of your body.  Are you starting to feel the peace?
• Freedom: Now that your body, mind, and spirit have settled down a bit -enjoy the freedom that comes with doing nothing.  Nothing to worry about in this present moment.  No deadlines to meet.  No chores to be done.  No problems to solve.  No pain from the past.  No worries of the future.  Only this present moment-in this state of rest.  This present moment in which you currently have no responsibilities.  Ahhh.. Freedom. 🙂

So now I have apparently created a little formula for rest and relaxation called “CAPF”.  Funny :D.  I will do a verbally recorded guided meditation to relax you all in the near future using my CAPF method.  I have been wanting to create some of those types of things for you guys anyway.  Would you like that?

Rest is truly so important.  It is a big part of good self care, which is SO healthy and important.  I need to do more of this myself again (as it used to be a daily practice for me years ago..another little tool in my arsenal of inspired living/self healing stuff I have collected or practiced in the past 14 years).   Do these exercises of rest as needed.  I would suggest once a day- even if you only have time for 15 min.  I think one needs to allow at least 15 min. for best results, because our modern bodies are often stress wired and it takes some time for them to wind down.  20-30 min. would probably be ideal.

If you don’t have a 15 min. or longer time window, you can always do some mini CAPF sessions to just slow down and recenter during your day.  For those of you who are going through trauma recovery, grief, anxiety/depression or just super stressful periods in your life right now: you may want to do this several times a day.  Once upon waking, once mid day, and once before bed for example.   I would do relaxation sessions 3-4 times a day when I was going through traumatic times.  It was a big help.

Take care (literally my friends 😉 ), and remember-part of living inspired is re-centering ourselves from time to time so that we can have that healthy outlook and fresh perspective!  

~Rebekah

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