Rediscovering Ancient Wisdom
Work and Rest - Balance
Folk tales and legends mirror the earliest images, intuitions, experiences and thoughts of man.
Many folk tales narrate an interesting fact that in the beginning, there was day only. It was bright all the time. There was no night or darkness at all. According to one African tale, when the world was new, it never really got dark.when the Sun set, the Moon cast enough light on the world to make everything clearly visible. All was fine and good until the Supreme Being asked Bat to carry a baskeet to the Moon. The basket had darkness inside. Bat did not know what the Moon was supposed to do with darkness, but nevertheless he flew off on his mission. On his way to the Moon, however, Bat became tired and hungry. He set the basket down and went in search of food. While he was away, some other hungry animals came on the basket and began pawing into it, looking for something to eat. Just as Bat returned,the animals pushed the cover off the basket and released darkness into the night. Ever since, Bat has slept during the day and spent the night flying about, trying to catch the darkness and return it to the basket, so that he an take it to the Moon, as promised.
According to a Vedic legend, in the beginning there was only day. Yama and Yami were brother and sister. First Yama died and reached a region where he became the king. It is known as Yamaloka. His sister Yami could not control her grief from the separation from her brother, so she was crying all the time. The Creator thought upon a plan and created night so that she , being too tired could go to sleep
Automatically because of the darkness of the night. Slowly she overcame the grief and became normal again.
These stories emphasize the significance of night and darkness and their healing power giving a period of rest to the body and mind. So Nature celebrates the day from Sunrise to Sunset allotting that time for all men to work and night after Sunset to next morning Sunrise to a period of rest so that after a hard day 's work, people can enjoy and end time with their family and rest on time to get up early morning the next day with new vigor and energy. After all man toils and earns not for himself but for the family. Accomplishment and fulfillment of this goal is facilitated by the Nature ' s convenient division of day and night.
Human being is a perfect unit of physical body, mind and intellect. The mysterious human body, the temple of God, or the Supreme Consciousness is the most marvellous and delicate machine in the world. The mechanism is also highly complex. The body with its various organs and flexibility of limbs and being endowed with mind and powerful brain is designed in such a manner that it cannot remain idle without doing any work. It's remarkable potential is , when properly directed, it can realize its immotal nature putting an end to the cycle of birth and death. At the same time, it has the inbuilt mechanism to take rest on its own to refresh itself and regain fresh energy to work further and for next day.
The body is the vehicle of the soul. So it should be cared for beauty and vitality. By eating pure and natiral foods and using natural products, one can maintain good health and thinking higher thoughts and doing good works, one can elevate one's positive vibrational level and quality of life. Adequate sleep is also necessary. For sleep, darkness is a must. The rules that governed our cave man ancestors still apply. That means diminishing lights on the night, clearing out the TV, Computer, phone and other electronic gadgets from the bed room and making it as dark as possible. Our body requires darkness to stimulate production of the sleep hormone melatonin. Artificial light used for a long time brings bad effect on muscles. Sleeping well makes waking up a pleasure. In Ayurvedic hours, the rising and setting of the Sun have more to do with man's waking and sleeping patterns than the electric bulb. Ayurveda teaches that the day is coosed of cycles with different energies. The hours from morning six to night ten are characterised by work energy and heaviness. This heavy energy after day's hard work helps you fall asleep at 9.30 P.M or 10 PM at night. 6 AM in the morning and according to Vedic scriptures 4.30 or 5 A .M in the morning is the best waking time. This the time when the energy that supports alertness and activity is at peak.
A proper balance of work and rest leads to a happy , peaceful life. In fact, Nature is the best teacher.
Sleeping too much or too little is related to less resposiveness of the cells in the body in insulin, reducing glucose uptake and thus increase the risk of developing diabetes in the future. Sleeplessness also causes health problems.
Overworking without adequate rest does not bring productivity and satisfaction.
It is the quality of sleep that counts. Deep sleep has admiring healing powers. In deep sleep, man is not aware of anything. It is said to be a state of bliss.Advaitic Philosophy, sleep is known as ' Nitya pralaya ', because in deep sleep, The individual merges( temporarily ) into Supreme Consciousness. That is why sleep is endowed with great healing powers. Good sleep is Nature's tonic for healthy living.
While ambitious techies flock to big cities for money and glitter, now there is a parallel trend-search for the right work-life balance leading to quieter places to reduce the hours in the office and on the road and for lower cost of living. The glamour of a big city may not be there. But this is nothing when compared to the advantage of quality of life leading a happy and peaceful one with ample time to spend and enjoy with family and taking rest on time.
Now a days , a lot of companies are also introducing lower hours to 30 hours instead of40, 70, 80 hours.
Evidence suggests that we can only concentrate on a given task for several hours at a time before we start feel fatigued and our minds wander. After we have hit our peak, our performance will begin to touch the flatline or even suffer.
Today leadership philosophy believes that forcing people to work for even 40 hours a week is inhumane.
Four-day weekends with 32 hours a week will help people live more in the present, instead of waiting until the old age to enjoy time off.
Such a policy will reduce the living hours in the office only. When some more time time is available for personal interest, the employee can devote himself to his creative hobbies also.
Such a move will cotribute to productivity, employee's morale, loyalty and stability to the company.
These stories emphasize the significance of night and darkness and their healing power giving a period of rest to the body and mind. So Nature celebrates the day from Sunrise to Sunset allotting that time for all men to work and night after Sunset to next morning Sunrise to a period of rest so that after a hard day 's work, people can enjoy and end time with their family and rest on time to get up early morning the next day with new vigor and energy. After all man toils and earns not for himself but for the family. Accomplishment and fulfillment of this goal is facilitated by the Nature ' s convenient division of day and night.
Human being is a perfect unit of physical body, mind and intellect. The mysterious human body, the temple of God, or the Supreme Consciousness is the most marvellous and delicate machine in the world. The mechanism is also highly complex. The body with its various organs and flexibility of limbs and being endowed with mind and powerful brain is designed in such a manner that it cannot remain idle without doing any work. It's remarkable potential is , when properly directed, it can realize its immotal nature putting an end to the cycle of birth and death. At the same time, it has the inbuilt mechanism to take rest on its own to refresh itself and regain fresh energy to work further and for next day.
The body is the vehicle of the soul. So it should be cared for beauty and vitality. By eating pure and natiral foods and using natural products, one can maintain good health and thinking higher thoughts and doing good works, one can elevate one's positive vibrational level and quality of life. Adequate sleep is also necessary. For sleep, darkness is a must. The rules that governed our cave man ancestors still apply. That means diminishing lights on the night, clearing out the TV, Computer, phone and other electronic gadgets from the bed room and making it as dark as possible. Our body requires darkness to stimulate production of the sleep hormone melatonin. Artificial light used for a long time brings bad effect on muscles. Sleeping well makes waking up a pleasure. In Ayurvedic hours, the rising and setting of the Sun have more to do with man's waking and sleeping patterns than the electric bulb. Ayurveda teaches that the day is coosed of cycles with different energies. The hours from morning six to night ten are characterised by work energy and heaviness. This heavy energy after day's hard work helps you fall asleep at 9.30 P.M or 10 PM at night. 6 AM in the morning and according to Vedic scriptures 4.30 or 5 A .M in the morning is the best waking time. This the time when the energy that supports alertness and activity is at peak.
A proper balance of work and rest leads to a happy , peaceful life. In fact, Nature is the best teacher.
Sleeping too much or too little is related to less resposiveness of the cells in the body in insulin, reducing glucose uptake and thus increase the risk of developing diabetes in the future. Sleeplessness also causes health problems.
Overworking without adequate rest does not bring productivity and satisfaction.
It is the quality of sleep that counts. Deep sleep has admiring healing powers. In deep sleep, man is not aware of anything. It is said to be a state of bliss.Advaitic Philosophy, sleep is known as ' Nitya pralaya ', because in deep sleep, The individual merges( temporarily ) into Supreme Consciousness. That is why sleep is endowed with great healing powers. Good sleep is Nature's tonic for healthy living.
While ambitious techies flock to big cities for money and glitter, now there is a parallel trend-search for the right work-life balance leading to quieter places to reduce the hours in the office and on the road and for lower cost of living. The glamour of a big city may not be there. But this is nothing when compared to the advantage of quality of life leading a happy and peaceful one with ample time to spend and enjoy with family and taking rest on time.
Now a days , a lot of companies are also introducing lower hours to 30 hours instead of40, 70, 80 hours.
Evidence suggests that we can only concentrate on a given task for several hours at a time before we start feel fatigued and our minds wander. After we have hit our peak, our performance will begin to touch the flatline or even suffer.
Today leadership philosophy believes that forcing people to work for even 40 hours a week is inhumane.
Four-day weekends with 32 hours a week will help people live more in the present, instead of waiting until the old age to enjoy time off.
Such a policy will reduce the living hours in the office only. When some more time time is available for personal interest, the employee can devote himself to his creative hobbies also.
Such a move will cotribute to productivity, employee's morale, loyalty and stability to the company.
On the other hand, when there is contentment and fulfillment in man's life, many family problems and social evils can be averted. Over all, there will be prosperity.
To put it in the words of R L Stevenson:-
That's Life
Any one can carry his burden, until nightfall. Anyone can do his work, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the Sun goes down. And this is all life really means.
To put it in the words of R L Stevenson:-
That's Life
Any one can carry his burden, until nightfall. Anyone can do his work, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the Sun goes down. And this is all life really means.
1 comment:
Great post on what matters in life! Nicely written, Amma :)
Post a Comment