What Good Is Rest Anyway?

Rest is more than sleep.

by Alison Bonds Shapiro, M.B.A. in Healing Into Possibility
Originally published online by Psychology Today

Rest is highly underrated in our lives. I am not talking about just sleep, although we know we don't get nearly enough of that either, I am talking about "not-doing". I have been running like mad all of this fall, traveling here and there, giving talks, working on projects - wonderful, productive meaningful work.

Finally this week I am simply sitting and realizing how tired I am. But mostly I am realizing how narrow my perspective gets when I become busy. One of the curious gifts of being human is our ability to rationalize what we are doing. I can tell myself many, perfectly self-justified statements explaining me to myself. The busier and more stressed I get the more reasonable those statements appear to me when in fact my view is becoming narrower and I am losing perspective.

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