Dear Reader,

Ahh rest. Something we all need, but seemingly can never get enough of.

Maybe it's trouble sleeping, relaxing, or that even when you find yourself resting, you never actually feel rested afterwards.

It impacts our work, our social life, our sense of well-being. The irony is we dedicate so much energy to finding rest because we know it's important－ so why does it often feel so hard?

The Japanese perspective on 'rest'

When you imagine someone resting, what do you visualize? Perhaps you would describe a person on the couch, or a person curled up under the covers in bed. Maybe you’d imagine a person lounging in a hammock, or suntanning on the beach.

If you were to ask a Japanese person, they would probably describe rest as a person leaning against a tree.

The Japanese character for rest is the combination of ‘person’ and ‘tree’. It’s a universal image, the person leaning against the tree to rest– a representation of rest as not simply sleep or the absence of work, but it’s about being in a safe place, a place where we can feel peace.

“Presence of work items” is enough to create a work mindset

Recent work-from-home set-ups have tempted many of us to blend our environments– to eat where we work or work where we sleep–but this sort of blending of environments has made places that are traditionally designed for rest into spaces that aren’t conducive to finding peace.

When we see our work laptop we are reminded of our unread emails, and when we see the stack of mail in the corner we are reminded of our unpaid bills.

It doesn’t matter if there is urgency to these responsibilities or not, but their presence can make simple events that should be relaxing–such as enjoying a meal at the kitchen table– something quite difficult to enjoy.

To find relief, create a space that invites it

Japanese imagery of rest showed me that the rest isn’t found in a vacuum, that we can’t just close our eyes and put in our earplugs if we want to find real rest. What we really need to feel is safe from the distractions of life; we need to be under our tree.

So the next time you have difficulty falling asleep, or find that you’re lying on the couch but not quite allowing yourself to feel well-rested, try thinking about the presences surrounding you:

What is in your immediate vicinity?

What influences is it having on your sense of safety?

These small details might seem negligible, but the unconscious mind takes note of these stresses. You may find that by simply putting them away that finding a sense of relief and rest becomes much easier to find.

Warmly,

Kaki

Thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed this, please forward this email to your friends and family (or share the article) 🌱

If this email was forwarded to you, it's nice to meet you 😊

Follow on Instagram for more health tips, tricks, and inspiration:

​