Rhythm of life
Blog by Emma Howarth, MitE Director of Operations
I have just come back from a lovely holiday in Cumbria. Not the holiday we had planned this year – that was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic – but we were grateful to be able to do this. We took our trusty trailer tent for its last outing and spent a week in the outdoors. Although this wasn’t what I had planned, I felt renewed from the break, from the rest. Of course, many people have not been able to get away this summer due to financial constraints or the after-effects of lockdown. Maybe they have been shielding still or are unwell. Their home arrangements may make this impossible or simply the opportunity to go away is not there. I have noticed that there is quite a lot around at the moment about taking time to oneself and resting.
Work and rest go hand in hand. Work need not be paid work, it could be raising a family, running a household, volunteering. Rest is not necessarily doing nothing. You will have heard the phrase, a change is as good as a rest, and this is certainly true. ‘Rest’ is necessary to ‘work’, and indeed these can be seen as the opposite ends of a pendulum swing. To have these in harmony and balance, works well as too much of either and the pendulum slows and eventually stops. However, to work from a rested state is surely more fruitful than collapsing into rest from a frantic state of rest?
We are intended to have a rhythm in our lives. Christian monastic communities developed the idea of a rule of life based on the natural rhythms of their lives and religious orders today still function under a rule. The purpose of a rule of life is to lay down working guidelines for the inner life and provide a framework for the balanced ordering of work, leisure and social relationships. As a Christian I am encouraged to consider the rhythms of my life and consciously build in a pattern that develops my relationship with God.
This does not just apply to someone who is a Christian, the principles can be used by anyone who is aware of how they live their lives. As a society and as individuals we have been forced to examine the rhythms of our lives over the past six months or so. By recognising what our rhythms are we can develop our own rule or regime. This sounds very strict – but it should be remembered that this is a framework and within that framework is a freedom.
Our lives can be examined as concentric circles, a bit like when you drop a pebble in a still puddle. The inner most circle is a day. Each day should have a structure to enable rest and work, relationships and recreation. A healthy pattern should be there that prioritises our life’s circumstances. What does this look like? A typical day or 24 hour period should consist of 8 hours sleep; around 8 hours ‘work’; around 8 hours ‘rest’. The next circle is a week which should ideally have one full day of rest with six days of work. It is important to weave into our rhythm and routines the things that are important to us such as family or friends or our faith. The next circle out is a month and these longer periods give another level to develop variety and contrast. As the time is longer it gives more space to see a regular pattern develop. Seasons come next – these are not necessarily the seasons of the year but phases of our lives. Seasons include adolescence and adulthood, singleness and marriage or partnership, parenthood to empty nest, moving from one job to another. In each season it is important to find a balance between work and rest.
From your time of work – in whatever form it is – it is very important to have a time of rest. Without the rest, the pendulum will be out of kilter. This article https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b2b9b96ee1759c1c429e3ad/t/5f201d1659387977ae7950ba/1595940121200/%23weallneedabreak.pdf has some good tips on having a break and establishing a rhythm. Take some time to yourself and examine your rhythms and once you understand these, you can develop your own rule of life.