Day 7: Do Nothing and Have a Rest

Ten Days Calm

How often do you actually ‘rest’? Like properly rest?

Rest is not just lying still for 30 minutes.

Rest is not just going to sleep.

Rest is not just taking the lift instead of the stairs.

We need to rest both mentally and physically. Rest from work, rest from the kids, rest from looking at a computer screen for eight hours a day or rest from sitting on our backsides for twelve hours a day binging the latest series on Netflix.

Sometimes the most important thing and most powerful thing we can do is to rest.

The following is an excerpt from a book by Michael Leunig called The Curly Pyjama Letters, it is a collection of letters written between two main characters. Vasco Pyjama is an explorer, he has a restless nature and is compelled into great voyages of discovery. His friend and mentor Mr Curly lives in the town of Curly Flat. Mr Curly is content with life in his town, he is content and at ease with the natural world around him. It has been said that the characters of Vasco and Mr Curly are within each of us, perhaps we choose not to see them until they stand strong in front of us.

Dear Vasco,

In response to your question “what is worth doing and what is worth having?” I would like to say simply this. It is worth doing nothing and having a rest. In spite of the difficulty it may cause, you must rest Vasco - otherwise you will become RESTLESS!

I believe the world is sick with exhaustion and dying of restlessness. While it is true that periods of weariness help the spirit to grow, the prolonged, on-going state of fatigue to which our world is rapidly adapting is ultimately soul destroying as well as earth destroying. The ecology of evil flourishes and love cannot take root in this sad situation. Tiredness is one of our strongest, most noble and instructive feelings. It is an important aspect of our conscience and must be heeded or else we will not survive. When you are tired you must have that feeling and act upon it sensibly - you MUST rest like the trees and animals do.

Yet tiredness has become a matter of shame! This is a dangerous development. Tiredness has become the most suppressed feeling in the world. Everywhere we see people overcoming their exhaustion and pushing on with intensity - cultivating the great mass mania which all around is making life so hard and ugly - so cruel and meaningless - so utterly graceless - and being congratulated for overcoming it and pushing deep down inside themselves as if it were a virtue to do this. And of course Vasco, you know what happens when such strong and natural feelings are denied - they turn into the most powerful and bitter poisons with dreadful consequences. We live in a world of these consequences and then wonder why we are so unhappy.

So I gently urge you Vasco, do as we do in Curly Flat, learn to curl up and rest - feel your noble tiredness - learn about it and make a generous place for it in your life and enjoyment will surely follow. I repeat: it’s worth doing nothing and having a rest.

Yours sleepily

Mr Curly

Sometimes we need to just do nothing and have a rest, but what exactly is ‘nothing’? Nothing is just the absence of something. And that something can be anything that causes you stress, worry or pain.

So what might ‘rest’ look like for you and what is the desired outcome?

Here is a list of 50 ways to rest:

Go for a walk. Leave all distractions such as mobile phones at home
Or take your phone with you. Download an audio book, stick your headphones in and zone out of everything else
Order a takeaway. Give yourself a night off from cooking
Do a home workout. Take part in an online Zumba class, lift some weights, see how fast you can do 100 burpees
Build a cushion fort in your living room. Chill inside the fort once built
Take a drive in the countryside. Find a secluded spot and park up. Open the car windows and listen to the sounds of nature, feel the warmth of the sun or the cool breeze
Learn to knit or crochet. Then knit or crochet a blanket or scarf for yourself
Take part in a gentle yin yoga class. Let the teacher guide you, let go of thinking and allow the body to rest
Make a to-do list. Once you've written the things down on paper you can forget about them completely. Check the list daily
Or set reminders on your phone for important events to take away having to remember them
Sit and read a book or magazine. Find a comfortable place to sit and don't move until you've read so many chapters or pages
Bake a cake. Then eat the cake
Call a friend who you haven't seen or spoken to for a while
Run yourself a warm bath using epsom salts. Relax in the bath
Play with the cat or dog. Put your phone away and don't be distracted
Don't check your social media until after lunch, or only check them at designated times in the day
Spend 10 minutes clearing your email inbox by unsubscribing and blocking anything that is not important. This will be restful every time you log in from that point onwards
Learn to solve a Rubik's cube
Go for a walk somewhere you know well. Find new things to look at, notice the things you are usually too busy to notice
Find a new podcast. Sit in the garden and listen to it
Listen to your favourite album. Sing along
Dance party for one. Stick on some classics. Imagine you are in a club in Ibiza, or on the stage at Butlins (we all have a genre, don't judge)
Dance party for many. Zoom call your friends and all dance along. Bonus rest points for karaoke as well
Put any work related stuff away in a cupboard at the end of the work day. Don't go in the cupboard until work starts the next day. Turn off work emails on your phone. Set up your phone to divert work numbers straight to voicemail
Write a list of things you find restful. Write it as a to-do list and tick off each day as you do something restful for yourself
Lock yourself in the bathroom for 5 minutes
Rewatch a favourite film, you don't need to concentrate, just sit back and enjoy
Go to bed 10 minutes earlier and just enjoy the feeling of not having to get straight to sleep
Set your alarm 10 minutes earlier and enjoy laying there knowing you don't have to get up just yet
Do your grocery shop online
Groom your pet, there is nothing more satisfying or restful than to get lost in brushing the cat or dog for half hour
Do a puzzle
Play on the Xbox
Do any activity that you can get completely wrapped up in and forget everything else
Start a vegetable garden. Gardening is therapeutic, plus you learn a new skill and get to eat fresh home grown veg
Take a long walk on the beach or in the forest. Pay attention to all the pebbles, leaves, rocks and pick the most unusual one
Bring said pebble or leaf home and make something artsy with it
Go for a picnic
Spend a day or half a day completely on your own. Decide what you want to do without feeling the need to please anyone else
Spend the day with a friend or family member. Let them make all the decisions, such as what to eat, where to go, even what to wear
Meal plan and meal prep. Not only can cooking be restful and therapeutic, you'll also feel the benefits when it comes to eating those pre prepared meals
Spend the afternoon on the Ikea website or go into the store and plan a completely new look for your current house or your dream house
Plan a holiday with a friend, discuss all the things you want to see and do at your destination
Do a completely useless thing, something with no consequence or outcome
Go for a jog somewhere you've never been before
Sit in the sun
Dance in the rain
Ask someone to do something you would never normally ask for help with
Chocolate meditation
Yoga Nidra

Take a few minutes to write a list of three things you need to take a rest from, and three ways you can take that rest.