6.6 the devil finds work for idle hands
the truth is, if you do nothing, you might just come face to face with your devil - and make friends.
Sarah Blondin has been doing a 30 day challenge where she sits under a tree, and observes the world around her; specifically, the nature around her. I read in her Substack article, that she had observed the birds; the birds who flap their wings furiously, and then soar. She asks, “which of these activities is fundamental for the birds survival?”
“Both are of the upmost importance”, she answers.
I have spoken of this ‘do, then rest’ balance often, and the wild disregard of the rest part. We have the do part down to a fine art but rest? Rest is lazy. It is self absorbed, it is unproductive, and in unproductivity lies nothing of worth. What’s that saying? The devil finds work for idle hands? The truth is, if you do nothing, you might just come face to face with your devil - and make friends.
Why is a day of rest wasted time, even though we know, we know, that rest is fundamental to our health. Why are we so terrified of rest? Of slowing down? Of doing nothing? Could it be because rest resembles death? Does it leave us with ourselves and we don’t like ourselves? Or is it because we are so hardwired to feel worthless when we aren’t doing/making something? Is it a cultural phenomenon created at the top to trickle down, tasked with keeping us working, keeping us earning, keeping us spending, keeping us doing, so we don’t ask questions, so we don’t see, so we don’t become?
Rest and digest is the relaxed state. This is the only time our bodies can heal, digest, and process things. This is why sleep is paramount for our health. But rest does not always equate sleep. How many of us sit down throughout the day with the intention just to rest? To breathe, to listen, to think, to rest and digest. This would have huge impacts on our bodies and minds but for some reason, it is still a very low priority for the masses. Is this disregard of rest making us sick?
When we look to nature, everything has a do moment, followed by a rest moment and so it goes, like a circle. And look at nature! She gets shit done! The sun comes out to grow things and wake us up, the moon comes out to put us to bed and give the sun a rest. The moon herself has a cycle, bringing in movement, energy, creativity, and new intentions when she is new (the new moon), and then a reflection and rest period following the full moon. Animals spend a great percentage of their time doing nothing; laying down, flicking their tails, watching the world go by. All these creatures and phenomenon get things done.
Could it be, the thing that keeps us doing is this little thing called PURPOSE. Whereas the purpose of the moon, the sun, of nature, is just to exist, is ours in doing? But is it possible that purpose could manifest in many different colours? Could we partake in a reconfiguration of the concept of purpose, moving away from doing, to simply being, like nature herself, who, after all, we are.
While doing my mirror work, I have a revelation. I have been having plenty of these as my body and womb guides have been telling me the great secrets of the universe but this one was -
~ your purpose, is you ~
In that moment I understand loud and clear that my purpose while I am here, lies in the silence and listening; it lies in the rest. It concerns my relationship with myself and figuring out the answers to the great mystery - who are we?
I have a dream. We have turned to the healing crusades of sound, movement, and breath. We have turned to face our great mother and realised the earth is all we need to survive and thrive as long as we come back to her. We have released our cynicism, our wars, our craving for power, and we now chase connection, understanding, and creativity. We are dedicated to raising well adjusted humans because the kids we hold and love or ignore and hurt become our colleagues, our lovers, our friends, our leaders. We right the balance of masculine and feminine, no longer seeing one as inferior to the other, but two halves to one whole; equal and beautiful. We have stopped keeping score, we have ceased counting. I am in a huge space with a digital rainforest splashed over the walls. There are over 200 people from different areas, of different ages, with different problems. We are all laying down, vulnerable, yet safe, while we let the healing frequency of sound alter our molecules. We have stepped into an alternate universe, a different way of being, a rearrangement of priorities - maybe something utopian?
I open my eyes and the dream fades but my surroundings remain. Here we are, in a hall, 200 of us, surrounded by a digital rainforest, trying on a different way of being.
Until next week my dears xo