I don’t have to tell you how fast paced life is because you’re probably running the race right now. People always ask, “how ya doing?” “Busy!” people usually say with an upbeat spirit. Busy…is that good or bad? Does that really define how you are doing? It may be an automated response, but we tend to feel busy and affirm with pride that our life is spinning at full speed.

We’ve come to define our well-being as busy.

Silence. Lack of chaos. Stillness. No movement. Peace. Do any of these ever define a moment of your day?

Let’s dream for a minute about what it would be like to have a moment to be still: You take time to savor your coffee in the morning. You slip in time to read a few pages in your book. You plan a short walk alone. Or you take a moment to escape to a quite warm bubble bath. Those all feel like serenity to me. A refueling of the soul, heart, and mind. Now these activities may seem far fetched depending on your life stage, but there are small things you can do to restore the mind. It’s about being intentional.

Bonnie Gray, author of Finding Spiritual Whitespace describes our life as a canvas. The term in the art world of “whitespace” refers to the area on the canvas where the artist intentionally leaves empty space so that the viewer can tell what the painting is about, and the eye has a place to rest. If there was no whitespace, the viewer wouldn’t be able to enjoy the beautiful masterpiece. It would look like a solid mess of color.

Gray says, “…whitespace isn’t about carving out an hour of time to escape the things that stress us out. It’s the opposite. It’s getting away from everything we do to distract ourselves…in order to nurture our souls.”

Whitespace offers clarity and restoration for the tasks at hand. You are the masterpiece on the canvas. Can you see it?

Life is packed full of activity, but can you afford not to find five minutes of rest in your day? How do we find time to be still?

For most people, it wont just happen, so you need to plan for it. Put it in your calendar if you have to. If you can’t see how you’d have the time, begin to analyze what things are getting in the way and how you could approach them differently to shave off five minutes.

Start by planning for five minutes a day, and designate a day or two a month that you can spend a longer span of time. If you benefit from it [and I think you will], build in multiple five-minute moments throughout your day to help restore your body and mind. Rest.

Lunch hour, kids naps, sunrise, quiet time. Read, walk, yoga, pray, sit. Turn the radio off and drive in silence. We all find solitude in our own way.

Let’s consider re-defining the meaning of busy in our life and begin to define our lives in moments of stillness and rest.

Gray says “rest is not something we engineer, but something we invite.” Let’s figure out how to invite it into your life.

Do you desire to find rest in your life but don’t know how to find time for it? Consider coaching or organizing with The Proper Place to help you become free to do more life.