Sometimes when our conditions or our abilities change, we think we have to resign ourselves to that change forever. We notice the signs of aging or loss of a skill that we haven’t used in a while, and we think, “Well, I can’t do that anymore.” Sometimes that’s true. We do have limitations. But sometimes we reinforce our limitations. We become attached to the stories we have about what we can’t do, and we precede an activity by reminding ourselves of what we’ve lost.
Sometimes the loss is perceived as greater than it truly is. What we perceive as a loss might be more of a lessening. A range of motion that isn’t accessible because of an injury might be recovered in time, but it won’t happen all at once. It won’t happen at all if we avoid it. It’s when we aren’t willing to accept starting from where we are right now that we limit ourselves. By giving ourselves permission to be where we are instead of where we wish we could be, we give ourselves a chance to learn and grow.
We hope you’ve enjoyed your constructive rest practice during the last 8 weeks. You’ve been building a skill that you can use to rest and reset whenever you need to. Remember, the ways that you’ve been learning to undo apply to your daily activities too!
This collaboration has been so fulfilling for both of us that we’ve decided to do 12 more weeks of constructive rest talks, beginning in October. The talks we’ve already released will still be available to you. If you would like to revisit them, you can find all of our podcasts by clicking "Listen here!" in the top right corner of this website.
Thank you for joining us!
Alexandra & Kateri
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