Blog Schedule

I post on Monday with an occasional random blog thrown in for good measure. I do my best to answer all comments via email and visit around on the days I post.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

R is for Rest and Recreation

Don't forget to enter my 100 Random Thoughts Contest. Click on the link in the sidebar at right to enter and win a unique prise! The contest is open until Friday, April 30th. Come join the fun!

Rest: Middle English from Old English; akin to Old High German rasta meaning rest, and ruowa meaning calm, and the Greek eroe meaning respite. (Rasta...It seems the Rastafarians have it right!)

Recreation: Middle English recreacion, from Middle French recreation, from Latin recreation, recreatio meaning restoration to health, from recreatus, past participle of recreare meaning to create anew, restore, refresh. Notice how the word re-create is hidden in recreation.

Rest.
We all need our sleep. There is no doubt that without good sleep we loose our ability to concentrate. Our reflexes and ability to respond quickly (like slamming on the brakes to avoid an accident) become impaired. It's a sad state of affairs, but it appears that our society is producing at worst a lot of insomniacs at best a bunch of people who don't get enough sleep. There seem to be a lot of sleep disorders and lots of drugs to help people sleep.

I don't know that drugs are the answer because I think (I don't know for a fact) that a drugged sleep does not allow one to dream. I've read enough about dreams and dream interpretation (I 'm partial to Carl Jung's approach) to believe that dreaming is important to our psyches, to our mental health. Dreams let us act out our dark emotions and fears. Without dreams I think we might be more likely to act them out in real life. Please understand this is just a Bish Theory, I have nothing to back it up with. But it seem possible. We dull ourselves with drugs of all kinds (from alcohol to crack to...you name it.) We dull ourselves with TV and video games and countless distractions. And in dulling ourselves we are fill our heads with meaningless drivel and lots of noise.

We are taking ourselves out of the world and out of our lives.

Which leads me to, Recreation.
Re-creation.
I think we need to lie in the grass and stare at clouds. Take out the earbuds and sit by a stream and listen to the water burbling. Climb a tree and listen to the birds. Dig in the dirt. I think we need to empty our minds of all the crap and look around at the beauty of this world else one day we will wake up and discover it's gone.

I think
we need
to be
still.

In stillness we will be able to sleep and be able to dream.

An aside: Click here to read an informative article for us bloggers by Chuck Sambuchino from Writer's Digest. In it he explains about the dangers of blogging certain stuff from the copy-right angle. We have to remember our ideas are not protected. And there are thieves out there. I think it's important, so I thought I'd share it with all of you, my fellow writing/blogging friends.

11 comments:

  1. Ahhh...! I agree with you about listening to nature and resting. We so need to dream, both while asleep and daydreams are important too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love rest and recreation! Rest, in particular - I love dreaming and sleeping. Thanks for the reminder that sometime we need to slow down.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Recreation as renewal is well documented here. I go to a 'Recreation Complex' regularly and I just think of a good work out but it's so much more.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This was well-timed post for me today. I'm going to go for a long walk and get lost in nature for awhile. My brain needs the R&R.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I liked your theory on dreaming, it makes perfect sense.
    Loved this post!

    ReplyDelete
  6. omg rest and recreation sounds SO delicious right now.

    *headdesk*

    whoops, sorry, i did NOT just fall asleep, did i??

    rest FTW!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. My writing career started with afternoon naps. 'nuff said :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ahhh, now this is my kind of post! Rest and relaxation are my specialty. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. rest and recreation. I feel like I'm doing both while sitting on the couch with my computer...:) Thanks for the link!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Rest and recreation is so great! What a great R!!!

    Rest is needed and I love to dream and sleep! Recreation is nice as well :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I've never understood why toilets in America are called "restrooms". What the heck are people doing in there?

    I know there's a slight aversion to the word 'toilet' for some, although that tends to be what's on signs here.

    Sorry... got sidetracked!

    yes... rest!

    ReplyDelete

Your Random Thoughts are most welcome!