Blessed are the Inefficient

Today Nathen blogged about taking short rest breaks, even napping if needed, as a spiritual practice that aids emotional and physical health.

I no longer need almost an hour to fall asleep, but after years of sleep-onset insomnia can certainly celebrate with Nathen for his overcoming that affliction.

(My only recent problem is how my role of househusband kept me waking early and going to bed late.  I am a few pounds overweight because of this, because I eat a little more than I should to compensate for not regaining enough energy with sleep.  I have probably lost a few brain cells from lack of sleep too.  However, it is a part of parenting and compared to "real" health issues is a small matter.)

I still sympathize with Nathen about the mindset of get things done! that prevents me from being as relaxed and restful as I should be during the day.  Parenting and preparing for my math teaching keep me quite busy.  I also try to do a little website work each day (I am currently adding old essays to my religion section and converting my novel Windsong to HTML).

Fortunately, I am neither a workaholic nor one of those people whose nature thinks it a crime that scripture never says "Blessed are the efficient".  I am fairly content to not get something done today, and barely bothered when a task winds up happening in a non-efficient manner.

Nathen writes well about keeping the day relaxing.  I only have one other trick to add, which has worked well for me in the past: have someone drive you somewhere remote and leave you there for a couple hours.  The situation of being completely unable to be productive can be delightfully therapeutic.