Rest and Play
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
I’m sick, and I’m going to be spending most of my day horizontal, cozied up to streaming services and lemon ginger honey tea.
But, as I was making my first pot of tea, I found myself opening my computer to do an itty-bitty tiny amount of Gene Keys contemplation.
And then I found myself opening up a blank doc to muse.
And now here I am.
A few years ago, I became deeply enchanted with Martha Beck’s book “Finding Your Way in a Wild New World,” and there’s a tidbit from the book that I want to share.
In chapter two, “The Path of Sacred Play,” Martha shares an experience from when she was all but bedridden as a result of autoimmune disorders.
Her autoimmune diseases – which are all supposed to be progressive and incurable – are, by the way, completely in remission. The path she took to healing is one of the “maybe this will work for you” options we explore in the workshop on high-functioning depression that Therese and I offer.
But back to Martha. At one point, shortly after she’d been diagnosed with interstitial cystitis, a nurse told her, “You should avoid stress, but remember: when you want to dance, lying down is stress, and dancing is stress release.”
And, while I will be doing the traditional “lying down” kind of resting today because that’s what my body is calling for, I think this message is so crucial.
Sometimes what we need most is rest.
But other times what we need most is play.
And learning how to tell the difference, to know which we need and when – that’s a game-changer.
So here I am, getting a little bit of play in before I spend the rest of the day resting. Because, yes, this style of writing is deep play for me. And goodness, do I love me some play.
Keely
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Morning Musings is a delight-first writing practice where I make a cup of coffee, dance around my house a little bit, then put my fingers on the keyboard and see what comes up.
Some folks find these musings helpful. If you know anyone who might like this musing, please share it freely.
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