“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” ~John Lubbock, The Use Of Life
I’m on a fairly savage regime of drugs and herbs for my Lyme disease just now. Both the treatment and the illness place a burden upon my body, and so doing what I can to support healing and detoxification is paramount.
To cope, I’d developed quite a routine, actively including everything I could to detox myself. The routine itself was exhausting, and I was earnestly looking for whatever else I might add to make the process even better. Did I mention I’m in a hurry to heal?
As I was lying on a treatment bed with needles protruding from me, and a smoking box burning on my belly, I asked my acupuncturist for his advice. What was I already doing, he asked me. Dutifully I rattled off my long list, feeling rather proud of myself.
He paused for a few minutes, feeling my pulses, tweaking a needle or two. He was quiet. Thoughtful.
Do less, he said.
Less? That threw me. Shouldn’t I be doing EVERYTHING I can to get better?
No, he said. Being so busy, so consumed with wellness, puts a stress upon the body too. I had made healing a job. Withdraw a little, he said. Read a book. Have a nap. Sit quietly in the sun. Make things easier for yourself.
He’s right, of course. Sometimes we think that doing all we can is better, when really, less is more. Healing happens in the quiet spaces, the down time, the growing sense of ease.
How about you? Are you giving yourself space to heal? Maybe you’d be better off having an early night, a slow weekend, a simple diet, more rest.
Here’s to wellness and balance in our lives. Be kind to yourself this week. Bless xoxo
