Note: This post is part one of a four-post series on Spiritual Relaxation. Use the links below to read the other posts:
– Sweet Hour of Prayer
– Adding Meditation
– Role of a Journal
I was at my doctor’s the other day and took the opportunity to ask him about something that had been bugging me for a while. In between deep breaths and stethoscope moves, I described a pain I had developed in my right elbow. My doctor smiled and said, “Tennis elbow.”
“But I don’t play tennis,” I said. He smiled and explained that it was a matter of overusing the muscles in one part of my forearm, like a tennis player would with backhand swings. He prescribed a stretch that would help the affected muscles relax.
There is that word “relax” again. If I had a dollar for every time someone told me I needed to relax . . .
My love-hate relationship with relaxation has been going on for a while now. I say love-hate because I love the idea of relaxation, but hate the idea of taking the time and energy to properly relax on a continuing basis.
I love the idea of relaxation, but hate the idea of taking the time and energy to properly relax on a continuing basis.
Relaxation and I are getting along much better these days because I have started prioritizing relaxation. Yup, I started putting it first. You might think that I am cheating by eating the desert of relaxation before the main courses of work and family responsibilities, but I assure you it is quite necessary.
Let me explain. Before I mended my relationship with relaxation, I tried to earn it rather than use it as a resource. I would work to “do” a lot of things in order make visible progress. My progress would then serve as proof that I was worthy of some relaxation. The problem was I never felt like I had earned enough relaxation to allow it to be a source of strength and inspiration. In my younger years, my relaxation was a type of life support. A source of strength and inspiration it was not.
So, instead of doing a lot in order to believe in my results and thus feel justified in taking time for relaxation, I turned the entire equation on its head. My new motto was “Relax, Believe, Do.” I repeated to myself often because I didn’t fully trust the inspiration that led me to exploring this new way of working and living.
So, what do I mean by relaxation? A round of golf? An hour or two in front of a favorite video game or maybe an extended hike in the woods? I mean that is what I think of when I hear relaxation. While these are all fine ways of balancing our lives, if I started my day off with a fun, recreational activity, I may never get started on the necessary tasks of the day.
By relaxation I mean letting go of all the junk my brain tries to constantly process that causes me to stay keyed up, stressed out, and on edge.
By relaxation I mean letting go of all the junk my brain tries to constantly process that causes me to stay keyed up, stressed out, and on edge. While a sport, a craft or a hobby can be healthy and distract me for a moment or an hour or two, they don’t really relax my thinking and that is what I need before I begin my work.
For me relaxation has become a spiritual practice. It includes prayer, mediation, journaling, and other forms of emotional or mental relaxation.
We all have feelings or emotions that drive our actions. As a guy, for many years I tried my hardest to ignore these feelings. When I got honest with myself and sucked it up and started becoming aware of what was driving my actions, I began to realize that I needed more than my best efforts if I was going to reach my most important goals.
Spiritual relaxation is what I like to call the efforts I make to clear out the negative thoughts and emotions that almost always divert too much of my energy from what is most important. I mentioned, prayer, meditation, and journaling. For many people these may or may not be relaxing. For example, if you’ve every prayed because you feel you’ll be disobedient if you skip or if you’ve ever tried to warp a leg into a full lotus, or even the idea of recording your activities in a journal makes you want to hide all of your pens, then you, like, might need some re-orientation when it comes to these practices.
Stay with me over the next few days as I post more information about how I use prayer, meditation, and journaling to help me power up and move past the obstacles that seem to block my best efforts.