7 Steps to Finding Rest
“If we are to live more meaningful and productive lives, we NEED to build rest into our days.”
By Philip K. Hardin, MA, MDiv, LMFT, LPC
By Philip K. Hardin, MA, MDiv, LMFT, LPC
How Can We Find Rest?
WHY do we seem to pack every day, every hour of our lives with impossible activity which doesn’t actually matter in the end?
WHO are we trying to please?
WHAT are we actually trying to do? WHAT is it all for?
And in all of this, how can we find rest? …Do we even value it anymore?
Busy – Busy – Busy!
The easiest thing to be is BUSY! Even a hamster is busy.
A busy life is not a productive life and represents a person who is reacting to the world rather than thoughtfully responding.
If we are to live more meaningful and productive lives, we NEED to build rest into our days.
In examining my own life, I have concluded:
The purpose of finding rest is being able to use a precious resource: time, more intentionally and deliberately in knowing and pursuing my mission, with all my heart, mind, and body.
I don’t want my life to be diluted by busyness and distraction… I, like many of us, can be addicted to being busy.
With that thought, here are 3 areas Busyness can take over:
1. “Busy” online!
Email and the digital world in which we live has made it possible to “work from anywhere”.
Social media can easily become the silent addiction, offering the pleasurable flow of dopamine as we scroll, like or connect through the numerous applications on our phone, tablet or computer.
2. “Busy” at work!
There are so many projects that I can pursue!
But the one thing that I have learnt as I’ve grown is that a leader needs to learn how to say “NO”.
3. “Busy” family!
As part of a family unit or parents, there are numerous activities that may appear beneficial to ourselves and our children, but they are not always the best use of our time.
The Secret to Rest
“The extent to which you rest and care for yourself, is directly related to knowing the meaning and purpose of your life, the impact that you desire to have, and the passion that you bring to each day. When you don’t know your purpose, you live a RESTLESS life.
First,
the secret to finding rest is recognizing its importance in how it replenishes the 4 areas of life—Physical, Emotional, Relational, and Spiritual.
These 4 areas are like batteries that need to be recharged in order to daily fuel our lives.
Each morning, I am intentional about recharging my life-batteries.
By getting up early and being in silence, solitude, reading, praying and meditating, I replenish my spiritual, relational and emotional energy.
This is my daily anchor of rest.
If we are not intentional about recharging our life batteries EVERY DAY in some small manner, we will feel increasingly depleted and tired. We would never fail to recharge our phones. How about our lives?
Second,
finding rest is the process defining the meaning and purpose of your life and anchoring your life to the values that define you.
If you aren’t clear about who you are, what you stand for and the steps you are taking to achieve this, your time is likely to be used, taken and wasted, helping others achieve their dreams and being swept up in unimportant tasks.
It’s definitely not wrong to give your time intentionally to others, but not at the expense of your rest and dreams – your purpose, the reason that you are here on earth.
I know my purpose. I simply know that my life is about using my gifts and brokenness to help all those that God brings my way to find wholeness and holiness in Him. As Colossians 1:28, 29 states:
“We proclaim Him, admonishing every person and teaching every person with all wisdom, so that we may present every person, complete in Christ. For this purpose I also labor, striving according to His power which works mightily within me.”
Therefore, almost everything that I do in my life, is orientated around this thought.
Third,
the secret to rest is decisive and experimental action. Initiate! Initiate! Initiate! Take Action. Do something! Say no to a life of passivity!
Finding rest involves an element of self-reflection, practice and the courage to start building rest into your life. Achieving real rest isn’t a dream. Building rest into your daily life enables you to “respond” to your day, well replenished and focused, rather than “reacting” to everything that happens.
7 Steps to Find Your Rest
Rest—experiencing Sabbath—is necessary. Even God rested on the seventh day.
Genesis gives us a clear picture of rest as we consider God resting on the seventh day of creating the world. But with the Hebrew calendar showing Sunday as the first day of the week, we see that:
We don’t work hard so that we can rest. We REST so that we can WORK —living out the purpose and mission God has given each of us.
Here are a few suggestions to help you find rest.
1. Begin the day recharging your batteries with time to reflect, connect, and listen to God, your own heart, and the plans for the day.
2. Schedule rest into your days, weeks, months and year. Expectation boosts dopamine and drives us forward. Look forward to “get aways.”
3. Find your Team. Seek encouraging and healing relationships. Find people who leave your elevated, encouraged and excited and stay away from the opposite.
4. Play well. Play is critical, not just for children, but for adults too. The opposite of play is not work, it is depression.
5. Create your best health. Take care of your physical body with exercise, eating well, and sleeping enough.
6. Declare device-free time regularly, disconnect to reconnect with yourself and practice being creative and reflective. The relentless pace of our connected and digitalized world is striking.
7. Journal your journey. Write your way to unloading stress, anxiety, and fears in order to experience peace. If there was one thing that I could hope for everyone to find, it would be “true rest”.
Finally, value your life. Rest is honoring the gift of your life.
Rest well!
Phil Hardin works as a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with Hardin Life Resources practicing in both Jackson, MS and Fairhope, AL.
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