Funny thing

Too few of us get nearly enough rest when we are ill. There are things to do and illness and rest just get in the way. The problem is that when we ignore our body’s demand for a little rest, we tend to find ourselves in the position that our body demands it. We stop being able to function and we stop being able to mentally cooperate with our needs and our desires. It is curious that we all share an innate inability to slow down and rest when we are ill. Perhaps it is nothing more than a carry over from our childhood when we were pushed to go to school despite our slight fevers and our general malaise. Perhaps we watched our parents go out the door every day despite their own illnesses and we realized that in their eyes rest was for the weak.

The funny thing is, if we decide to actually take a little time out for rest our bodies are more able to heal and we become healthy again much faster. One or two days off in the world creates a healing space that allows us to get back to our life rather than weeks of struggling against the need for rest.

Rest allows the body to focus on the illness and flush it out. It isn’t that we need to stop moving because we are weak or lazy, but because our body can only disperse the energy it needs into so many directions. Rest allows our body to focus on the healing aspects of its energy rather than the motion aspects of its energy.