Are we allowing ourselves to rest?

This week I have been reading a another great book about Rest and Work. The author has done his research into why resting is so important. I’m only half way through the book, and here are some of the key take-aways so far.

Rest comes in many forms. Sleep, meditation, a coffee break, walking, sitting, napping etc. Rest gets bad rap, as in western societies it can automatically thought of as laziness and non-productive time spent. It’s not viewed as adding any value, and rest such as sleep is seen as an inconvenience.

You have to TAKE rest

Rest is a hard thing to do because it has to be TAKEN by a person. In life, so much is given, forced upon us, and conveniently available in front of us, that we forget or feel we are not able to rest.

Rest is very important for creative people. As stepping our minds away from what we are doing, and unfocusing, kicks in our brain’s DMN (Default Mode Network, discovered in the 1990s, also known as Do Mostly Nothing).

Don’t ask Google

Our DMN does the work for us whilst we do nothing, or very little. It looks back and forward in time, links things and ideas together, and helps us form answers. So maybe rather than rushing to ask Google to give us all the answers, why don’t we throw it out to out DMN now and again.

Are you getting the rest your mind and body require for you to be at your best? Do you take rest and schedule it in for the day, or does it get in the way? Let me know in the comments.