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INTRODUCTION – REST

The basis of this week’s story follows the message in this short paragraph…

ON VACATION

Yesterday five people vacationing from Taiwan came to visit me. They stayed one night and they took a plane to Canada this morning. They will be back in Taiwan in two days. I asked them what they were doing on vacation. "Rest," they said.

(by Master Sheng-yen)

What needs to be considered here is the varying types of rest.

Rest is considered to be – relaxing to recover strength; or alternatively to allow a period of inactivity to save strength or energy.

Apart from sleep we must incorporate in each day periods of rest. These may not be excessive or long, but nonetheless they need to exist.

Rather than explain the obvious, whereupon following a few hours hard graft you may need to rest your body; allow me to explain the not so obvious - the ‘racing mind’.

A day off work is the perfect example… You may want a day off work to rest, where you kick off your slippers and pull your feet onto the sofa. You day is filled with thoughts and daydreams. It may sound pleasant but it can be very tiring on the mind.

If when you choose rest, you sit and daydream, you’re actually working hard again and not resting.

The most successful periods of rest is either to do nothing or a task that requires your full attention.

To sit and do nothing is difficult as your mind will fill with events that you recall and future tasks that need completing. If you cannot sit and empty your mind; and continue to empty your mind as thoughts try to stifle your emptiness, you are best trying the other option.

Let’s just take a moment to consider the ‘other’ option.

Doing a task that requires full attention. You may be thinking along the lines of building a model ship or plane or constructing a palace out of lollipop sticks. These may well work, but there is more reference to the more mundane tasks in life.

We have five senses, if we use one specifically our full attention is being used.

Instead of doing a normal everyday task, allow the introduction of another sense and see the difference. Prepare your food for a meal but FEEL the texture. Walk; and don’t just see, but smell. Sit on the bus on your way to work, close your eyes and just listen.

What may happen is that you’ll experience the beauty of this, acknowledge the benefits and then never do it again. Why? Because of a racing mind! You’ve too much to think about. Then you need the discipline to allow the exercise to arise again and again.

Consider an activity by an elderly neighbour for example. Do they not spend hours painting a fence that you’d take 20 minutes over? Perhaps unbeknown to them, but they are resting.

If you spend most of your day at work you’ll know what part of the day is most productive. You’ll encounter undulating emotions during the day which will include mainly both happiness and tiredness. Tiredness and lethargy leads to other negative emotions; it is here when you need to introduce an effective method of rest.

If you are serious about introducing ‘better’ periods of rest you’d be best advised to follow the principles of wisdom. Yet there are individual techniques that are effective that you may have already introduced, but the only disadvantage is that they invariably don’t lead to more improved techniques.

In life you need strength to endure the problems you encounter. What happens then when a problem comes along when you’re tired? No doubt you’ll make an instant decision that you’ll regret. If you have a modicum of strength the problem is dealt with better; full strength and the problem will never arise again.

Wisdom explains many things, but often from an apparent different perspective. If you want more strength to tackle your daily life, would you spend more time in the gym flexing your muscles? No! You understand the value of rest.

Your strength will reduce with every activity. Flexing your muscles in the gym gives you more strength than you need in the early stages of the day but nonetheless will tire with time. Your strength and energy is controlled by your mind.

Rest your mind and you’ll have a more sustained period of strength.

2. STORY 1

Poppycock! A truly old English comment for I don’t believe what you say. If you don’t want to fine tune your periods of rest then you’ll be the professor in the next story.

THY CUP OVERFLOWETH

Once, a professor went to a Zen Master. He asked him to explain the meaning of Zen. The Master quietly poured a cup of tea. The cup was full but he continued to pour.

The professor could not stand this any longer, so he questioned the Master impatiently, "Why do you keep pouring when the cup is full?"

"I want to point out to you," the Master said, "that you are similarly attempting to understand Zen while your mind is full. First, empty your mind of preconceptions before you attempt to understand Zen."

(Zen Story)

3. STORY 2

PICNIC / MEDITATION

In answer to the observation that some people say they do not meditate because they are too busy, the Dalai Lama told the following story:

A monk keeps promising his student that he will take him on a picnic but is always too busy to do so. One day they see a procession carrying a corpse.

"Where is he going?" the monk asks his student.

"On a picnic."

(Zen Story)

4 RESPONDING TO YOUR QUESTIONS

QUESTION: “Why do we believe that what we are taught… is the way to live?”

ANSWER: More often than not wisdom that is passed from generation to generation can be misunderstood. The stories that are used in this newsletter are to the best of my knowledge original; and therefore in giving you these in this format allows a cutting truth. If the original is meddled with the impact is either lessoned or lost.

If we are told by a so called authority we assume the instruction has validity. We must trust in our instinct. If we are told and our instinct suggests it is wrong; give it time for consideration just in case, if it still feels wrong go to a higher source for clarification.

Origin of Death Myth of The Chameleon and the Lizard

When God had finished creation he wanted to send people an important message. He called the chameleon to go and tell them that after death they will return to life. The lizard had eavesdropped. However, she had misunderstood what the chameleon was told. She ran quickly to tell people what she thought she had heard God say: "After death there is no return." The agile lizard had long reached the people when the chameleon was still on his way. People thought the lizard's message natural and a matter of fact. When at last the chameleon arrived and delivered God's message, people ridiculed him and said: "You stupid chameleon, we already know that we are all going to die and that death is the end of everything." (Yao, Malawi/Mozambique/Tanzania Myth)

5. PHILOSOPHICAL TIPS & QUOTES

"I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened." (Mark Twain, 1835-1910, Humorist and Writer)

"It's not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference."
(Bear Bryant, 1913-1983, Football Coach)

"You are the only problem you will ever have and you are the only solution. Change is inevitable, personal growth is always a personal decision." (Bob Proctor, Author and Speaker)

Bye for now.
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Phil Booker
Editor, Author, Businessman and Philosopher of Life.
 

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