Friday, August 13, 2010

Rest and Resistance


Visiting around other blogs, I'm reading a lot about loving kindness, self-care and the need for rest. Another blogger and well-known author, Jen Louden, has even gone on a month long, self-imposed internet sabbatical.

I want to sink into this idea like I sink my toes into soft, cool, sand.

All this internet input is wonderful, but can it become a burden, distraction, energy drain that saps away creativity? Can your head love the internet while your heart gets lost along the way? Is it procrastination to rest your mind, so your soul can speak and be heard? Why if rest, space, quiet is the way back to the heart of creation, do we resist it so strongly?

Many questions, here. I'd love to say I have the answers. I don't.

I do have glimmers, though. Those times when I do allow myself to rest in the valley of the unknown long enough to hear the whispers of longing and ideas. I see the faces in the clouds and trees. I feel the energy underfoot. I learn about stories that have yet to be told.

The clay calls to me. The metal shimmers with possibility and the shadows reveal scenes longing to be released.

Then, my mind resists the pull of my heart. Product gets pushed in front of process. Comparison and competition and fear shake me from my rest.

Don't you just hate that? I do.

Do you resist rest? How do you deal with it?

2 comments:

Stacy said...

I can relate to your words, Susan. This is the second time I've seen the term "Internet sabbatical." It sounds wonderful to me, but I haven't yet been able to do it, not even for one day. My little laptops calls to me ...

I'm going camping later this month, and that will force me to take an electronic sabbatical. Soooo looking forward to it.

Susan Gallacher-Turner said...

Well, to have even a term like 'Internet sabbatical', perhaps answers my questions about creativity, the internet, balance and rest. And to have you longing for a little non-internet time, too proves it even more.

I'm glad you're going camping, back to nature on electronic sabbatical, let me know how it goes.