At one time in my life, I was a stranger to the simple moments of peace and tranquility. I knew they existed and while I thought I met them on occasion, it took a major health crisis to wake me up. It took something so big that brought me down to my last breaths for me to realize, there was more to life then staying busy and distracted 100% of the time.
All too often, I have seen people come in for a once a year massage thinking that in that moment, they would take care of a year's worth of stress. Sometimes it was a once in a lifetime massage, but the goal was the same - to take care of an overwhelming amount of stress. It was a luxury, not a necessity - much like it was for me before the major health crisis hit.
We push our bodies and our minds...
We all do this to our bodies. We push them and we push them until there is no tomorrow. We act as if our energy is limitless and our bodies never need any more rest than what we allow them to get at night while we sleep. We act as if our mind will keep going at optimal performance while not realizing that our brain and nervous system needs a rest. The more we rest it, the better our mind and body will perform.
We exhaust our bodies. We exhaust our minds. We exhaust our nervous systems. Yet, we are surprised when we get sick with illness or major disease. We are surprised when major episodes of pain and tension arise. We are surprised when our memory constantly fails us in the pursuit of our daily activities.
It seems so simple...
Yes, it seems so simple to take time out and rest and recharge and refresh our bodies and our minds. It seems like it should be a normal part of our every day life. In fact, many preach that we should practice it, but often these are the same ones that need this more than ever. We tend to pontificate on the things that we so badly need in our own lives.
Am I perfect at this? No! After all, it took a major health crisis to bring me down and face the essence of my life. I can say that I am better at it than I was earlier in my life, but I still struggle to do this as well.
We can keep putting it off thinking that we are invincible and we will go on forever. However, after we have exhausted our bodies, our minds and our nervous system, we may be past the point of no return. It may be too late to start thinking about taking care of ourselves and learning how to stop and rest and relax. We may end up at that point, dealing with how to live with a major health crisis.
The choice is yours and yours alone to make. No one can make this choice for you. There is absolutely nothing in this world that is more important than your health. I thought my job and my friends and my family were more important, but those things almost cost me my life.
I learned the hard way. May you learn from my own journey and start to find little ways each day and week that you can stop and rest. Find the little ways where you take a moment to find the simple things in life, that allow your body and mind to refresh and recharge. Don't put it off another day for tomorrow could be too late.
Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly
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