Welcome to a new week. I hope you had a restful weekend. After some crazy busy work weeks/weekends, I put myself to bed at 8 last night. I managed to not fall asleep while taking a bath, so that’s positive.
Let’s talk about rest.
Bear with me, it’s pretty technical.
Rest doesn’t necessarily mean sleep.
Here are a few offerings from Merriam Webster
a bodily state characterized by minimal functional and metabolic activities
freedom from activity or labor
a state of motionlessness or inactivity
the repose of death
a place for resting or lodging
peace of mind or spirit
a rhythmic silence in music
a character representing such a silence
a brief pause in reading
something used for support
resting or reposing especially in sleep or death
quiescent, motionless
free of anxieties
to get rest by lying down especially : SLEEP
to lie dead
to cease from action or motion : refrain from labor or exertion
to be free from anxiety or disturbance
to sit or lie fixed or supported a column rests on its pedestal
For our purposes here, let’s not focus on the “dead” part.
Instead, let’s look at some key phrases,
“minimal function and metabolic labor”
“freedom from activity or labor,”
“refrain from labor or exertion”
“peace of mind or spirit”
“free from anxieties or disturbance”
Allow me to paraphrase:
Rest, for us, right now, refers to “not working” in the capitalist sense.
Work, for us, right now, refers to anything done out of obligation or towards/measured by production/productivity.
In his book Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, author Alex Soojung-Kim Pang lays out a strong case for why we need more not-working and less working. He asserts that our brains require significant amounts of down time to work more efficiently. In addition, he says that 4 focused hours of work are more beneficial than 8 sloppy work hours.
He backs it up with heaps of neuroscience and FMRI studies that show our brains don’t stop working when we do. Instead, different parts of our brain activate—specifically, creative parts. That’s where lots of solutioning and brilliant ideas happen; not when we’re staring directly at a screen or our challenges, but when we’re doing something else (like folding clothes or walking the dog or mountain climbing).
I get some of my best ideas while I’m in the shower.
Some of our most brilliant thinkers, scientists and writers only worked for four very solid hours per day. That means no Twitter or email distractions. No snacks. This includes an array of Nobel Laureates, novelists and accomplished artists. Pang furthers Malcom Gladwell’s assertion that complete mastery comes with 10,000 hours of practice. Pang tacks on 12,500 hours of deliberate rest and 30,000 hours of sleep.
This is where I remind you that our current 9-5 day/40-hour work week is an anomaly in human history. Our forebears generally worked no longer than 4 or 5 hours per day. These work hours (which used to be much longer and more grueling) are a gift from post-industrial capitalism.
So, what is deliberate rest?
Karen Brody, the author and podcaster behind Daring to Rest, defines it solely as yoga nidra. Yoga Nidra is that otherworldly place between awake and asleep, a lucid dreaming state that can be induced through guided meditation.
This is also known as hypnagogia (“abducting into sleep”), and Salvador Dalí was a master of the craft. He was known to loosely hold a spoon or something of similar weight when he went for a nap. As he drifted into the edge of sleep, his hand would relax causing the spoon to fall and clatter, thus waking him. His conscious mind grasped onto an awareness of what his unconscious sleep mind was showing him. This informed so much of the imagery in his paintings.
But, also…
Pang talks about another form of deliberate rest known as deep play.
Deep play involves a hobby or any mentally/physically challenging activity you do for pleasure. These activities offer some form of reward, but are different than our jobs. They allow us to reach flow and reward more quickly than our jobs, if that is even an option for us. Flow is when you’re in the zone, when you lose track of time, don’t realize you’re hungry/thirsty/have to pee.
Deep play can be mountain climbing, cooking, gardening, or softball. It can also be puzzles, bowling, or teaching your dog tricks.
None of the books, podcasts, Ted talks or articles I’ve been devouring mention anything about the value of spending our downtime scrolling or binge watching. If this is one of your favorite pastimes, I’m not dissing it. I tend to rack up more scrolling minutes than I’m happy with. I suspect because I live in a place that does not present me with the deep play options of mountain climbing and I suck at sports.
Everyone talks about the rest value of a walk, so there’s that.
Here are some action steps for you to begin to explore the wonderful world of deliberate rest waiting for you:
Set yourself up with an alternative to scrolling/channel surfing/binge watching. This could mean mapping out walks in your neighborhood, finding supplies for a creative hobby, teaching yourself a hobby that you’ve always wanted to master.
At first, it could be making a list of all possibilities.
Maybe you want to master yoga nidra or hypnagogic naps.
You may not be able to begin right away, but do begin the exploration of what you can do.
If you have a deliberate rest system in place, go to it.
And please, tell me all about it. I’d love to hear what you’re cooking up.