What's the Difference Between, Resting, Relaxing and Recharging?

 Sabbath Rest ~ And Relaxation ~And Recharging

Are they different? Are they the same?  Do we need all three?  YES-YES-and-YES.  Resting can be relaxing but it can be more than that and it can lead to recharging, but recharging is also different. 


There, have I cleared things up?  Sabbath is a time to do all three!

REST  
We need to rest when we are tired.  Rest helps us move forward, rest is a necessity needed from an action we have taken which depletes us physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually. Here are some ways to rest:
1. Take a day off! (I like to call that day Sabbath!)  And I mean really take it off!  Don't check e-mails, or phone messages, don't do the thing that is expected when you are working.

2. Sleep!  Perhaps that means taking a nap if necessary but go to bed early and purposefully.
3. Be aware of what your body is telling you.  If you are a runner and something hurts....maybe now you are a jogger, or a walker.  Look for and listen to stress indicators and then act on them. 

Relax 

Relaxing is active.  I know that sounds like an oxymoron but the difference between resting and relaxing is this: When you rest you cease to do the norm which tires you out.  When you relax you do something to ease your body, mind or spirit. Here are some examples for ways to relax:
 1.  Take a walk, swim, float, meditate, do yoga etc. some sort of movement which changes your frame of mind and lets your body unwind. 2. Read, o write or compose.3.  Play! solitaire, or a group game or anything that lets you "be" in a totally different space from the norm.

Recharge
When we recharge we are building something into our repertoire which will encourage us and sustain us for our daily activities.  Here are some examples for ways to recharge.
1.  Take a class, learn something new
2.  Serve!  (My grandma use to say, "Whenever you're sad, whenever you're blue, do something nice for someone sadder than you !)
3.  Engage in a favorite hobby or start a new one. Engage/develop your creativity

22 Things to Say "No" to on Sabbath

Just for one day say no to:

Take a break from spending

Take a break from rushing

1. Consumption
2. Putting things on the calendar
3. News
4. Meetings
5. Shopping
6. Complaining
7. Gossiping
8. Worrying
9. Being indoors
10. The mundane
11. Hurry
12. Computers
13. Knowing all the answers
14. The ordinary
15. Ugliness
16. Being the one to set the pace
17. T.V.
18. The old
19. Work
20. Doubt
21. Laziness
22. Noise

28 Things to say Yes to on the Sabbath

When our lives are busy and we declare one day a week as "Sabbath"... something different... something set apart, sometimes it can be challenging to figure out what that means.  If we're not doing the ordinary, how do we fill our time?

1. Joyful Worship
2. Feasting
3. Teach someone something
4. Paint
5. Learn how to play an instrument
6. Surprise someone who is lonely with a visit
7. Pay "it" forward A link to "pay it forward" ideas
8. Do a Bible study
9. Learn something new
10. Memorize poetry or Scripture
11. Journal
12. Pray
13. Walk, and enjoy the surroundings
14. Float don't swim
15. Nap
16. Read
17. Bask
18. Feast
19. Play
20. Listen attentively
21. Be outside rain or shine
22. Play a board Game
23. Bake
24. Make a puzzle
25. Call a friend
26. Write a Thank you note
27. Do Yoga
28. Be

Am I the Boss Of Everyone's Sabbath?

I had a lovely Mother's Day.  Church, being with all my kids, visiting Grandma, time at home, reading in the sun, putting my feet up, a lovely cook-out, strawberry shortcake, gifts, Perfection!  But I started feeling a bit guilty. If the rest of the family allows me to "lie-about" all day are they actually embracing Sabbath?  Which begs the question...am I the boss of everyone's Sabbath?  My youngest is only 14 so I'm going with a 'yes' for him.  Also as the mom, I do kind of set the tone for the day, but I don't think one can force Sabbath on others, nor would that be effective. Or would it?  Remember the concept of planning ahead?  Remember when there were no open stores on Sundays...and we all survived? Remember when the gas stations weren't open on Sundays, and we filled up on Saturdays?

Whittlesey Landscaping has this statement on the front page of their website: The Whittlesey family made the decision to close on Sundays in the belief that it's important that all of our employees have an opportunity to spend time with family and friends, rest, and worship if they choose to do so. We believe that this choice is an integral part of our desire to staff both of our locations with a spiritually and mentally healthy, happy, and helpful team of employees.  They are if not enforcing, at least enabling their own family and friends to have a bit of Sabbath. At one time a touch of Sabbath was forced on us, and it made it easier to slow down.  Now I feel like I'm fighting every week to maintain peace and rest.   YES "Fighting for peace and rest" IS an oxymoron, but that is the world in which we live.  We must, if not fight for our own chunk of Sabbath, at least practice it.
Abraham Joshua Heschel say this,

"Perfect Rest is an art.  It is the result of an accord of body, mind and imagination." 

So if society isn't going to roll up the streets on Sundays just so we can pause and take a breath, perhaps it is the "mama's job!" 

Sabbath Unplugged-8 Reasons To Unplug For Sabbath

8.  We can connect more meaningfully person to person with family and friends. Texting is efficient, Facebook is fun, e-mail is necessary, a phone call is more personal, but how about face to face conversation?  Actively listening. Observing body language, hugging, touching and being connected!
7.  We get more done.  I mean the "other stuff" not e-mail and computer work but other stuff!  You name it. (No really, I want you to name 10 things you could get done without  a computer on, T.V. radio, phone etc interrupting you!)
6.  It helps us focus, or gives a new focus.  What if you looked at a project, a book, a loved one, with all of your senses focusing on what you were doing.  How would that change things?
5.  It opens space for the unknown "Other" to grow.  How do you know what thoughts, ideas, creativity, relationships could flow into your life, if it's full of  someone else's stories, music, problems, nagging etc.
4.  It Forces us to be Creative.  Are you a little panicked at the thought of no phone, i-pod, TV, computer?  Good, let that panic begin to move you into a space of creativity!
3.  Silence IS Golden.  Spending time with our thoughts let's us know what we're still thinking! Can you do it?
2.  No Google forces you to exercise your memory.  If every answer is at our fingertips, our brain never has to use those memory synapsis which is a major way to keep it healthy!
1.  It let's "The Main Thing" be the main thing.  Let God be your God for the day.  Let Rest be Rest for the day.  Let one thing unfold into the next just for one day instead of multiple things happening at once.

A Sabbath Poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Pied Beauty
-By Gerard Manley Hopkins

Glory be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.

This poem is a part of a series that comes from the book “Earth Prayers,” a collection of daily earth honoring poems and prayers.