The Necessary Luxury of Rest

I thought it was kind of funny recently when someone called me a "medium-hard" worker. It kind of shocked me. I'd always thought of myself as a very hard worker. But then I considered it a kind of success because I had been trying to slow myself down for a while now. I used to run through life at breakneck speed, always in competition. So notching back to a normal, if medium, worker was an improvement. It's true that, like Walt Whitman, "I loaf and invite my soul." I look forward to the sweet succor of rest. I also move pretty quickly when I have to. Lately I've come to learn when circumstances call for one type of speed or the other. And I've learned that resting allows you to think more clearly, potentially giving way to an experience of elevated reason. The Dalai Lama has called sleep a type of meditation. It is essential in clearing the brain of harmful toxins. People who don't sleep enough are actually missing out on different, healthier ways of engaging with the world despite their surfeit anxiety to live life--and quick. That's why I worried when I read in the Chicago Tribune that Donald Trump is one of those unfortunate insomniacs. The Tribune reported Trump saying, "'I like three hours, four hours. I toss, I turn, I beep-de-beep. I want to find out what's going on.' (Mr. President-elect: How about a little less tweeting and a little more snoring?)" Arianna Huffington recently reviewed a book called Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Soojung-K...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news