Rest

I had a very interesting conversation the other day where we were discussing two very highly traded commodities. Crude oil being the obvious one, and coffee being the other. It was suggested that in our society today, we value fuel above all else. And the major mental state that we strive for is wakefulness and alertness.

Sleep is something that we tend to be resistant to. Spending all of our waking hours trying to accomplish so much, we've forgotten all of the important things accomplished while we sleep. People that are consistently sleep deprived are proven to have higher rates of Alzheimers. I read something written yesterday, by a pediatrician, that a high majority of kids he's treated diagnosed with ADHD are sleep deprived. Keep in mind, kids generally require more sleep than adults.

It's interesting that we live these lives filled with so many stimuli, that when we're exhausted at the end of the day and try to lay down, it's impossible to get any quality sleep. You wake up the next day in an already drained state, to conquer another day filled with tasks that need to be accomplished. Where do we find the time to rest? Where do we find the time to play?

For most of us, this is where our kung fu comes in. It provides a space for us to focus on our training, and become mindful of our bodies. It gets us out of our "rush mode." It's not a task that needs to be completed because it's never really complete. It has this infinity to it, that I have found over time, to be exactly what I need to balance my mind. It teaches me to be disciplined, so I'm not letting everything bog me down, but it's also something fun for me, done completely for pleasure. It teaches me to be compassionate, which again helps bring me back to the present moment so I can live moment to moment instead of list to list.