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A little photo diary. If you have the app, come play with me :: @kateUdurie
Pausing to capture a moment lights up gratitude. Real-time journaling is so liberating. xo
![. EVEN THE LOTUS RESTS
"[when] you get tired, learn to R E S T,
not to quit." - banksy
Why is it that we sometimes put rest & quitting in the same file folder in our brain?
They are not the same.
Yet often, rest seems like such a defeating choice, such an impossible order, such a demeaning request by the body that we choose:
quitting, stopping, giving up
instead of resting.
Is it that R E S T can feel like moving backwards?
Losing speed, losing ground, losing perceived value 'out there' in the world?
And that quitting feels more like standing still, a hard stop? Less progress lost? Easier to justify?
Is it that rest feels like a setback? The opposite of progress? A place of limbo? The unknown? That it can feel so uncomfortable for us that doing nothing, that quitting, feels 'better' aka more comfortable?
Have we forgotten the profound value of rest?
Proactive, intentional rest.
Pacing.
For my {TBI} brain & as research is stacking up in fact for ALL BRAINS (& bodies, hearts, spirits, souls, the whole) we are designed for optimal functioning, optimal performance, only when we honour the ACTIVITY-REST-RESTORE-REPEAT way of being. And that loop needs to be nourished, optimized &closed more often than most of us allow. We have to listen & customize, honour & refine. We have to give us much of our skill-building effort & energy to each aspect of this cycle, including cultivating the capacity to REST.
Nature always reminds me of the natural way of things, out beyond our incredible human capacity to over-think, re-engineer or out-think
e v e r y t h i n g
nature on the other hand, just is.
This 'lotus flower' may have come home with me from the cottage (sorry!)
She lives in a glass filled w water.
Each day she opens.
Early evening, she begins to close.
By bedtime, she's a tight bud.
RESTING.
RESTORING.
REFUELLING.
Without questioning. Without judging.
She doesn't equate her value or worth, her potential or capacity w the number of hours she is in bloom. She just knows. She trusts the process. She listens. She is.
Imagine if we could regain, restore all that 'mental load' we lose by weighting down our minds & lives, fighting this. I can.
The sweet spot. tbc](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55159620e4b0570dfe17be99/5515b2c4e4b04d5c3197df06/599c440479a5a2fa6ef63a40/1503413273137/)
A little photo diary. If you have the app, come play with me :: @kateUdurie
Pausing to capture a moment lights up gratitude. Real-time journaling is so liberating. xo