I believe the most important TOP PRIORITY thing to schedule — the thing that should be scheduled first, before anything else — is REST.

Daily rest, weekly rest, monthly rest, seasonal rest, and yearly rest.

Rest. Recovery. Recuperation. Regeneration. Reflection. Rejuvenation. And to come out of these periods of time REBORN.

I’m still working on putting this belief into practice, and being able to rely on myself to protect times of rest like a little baby lives inside it. Because they do.

Honoring a Sabbath and taking sabbaticals are two ways of implementing this practice of resting on a regular basis with strong traditions to back them up.

Syncing up special rest time with the dark phase of the moon is another way I keep promising myself I will keep restful time on a regular basis, but failing to do.

Today the moon is new. Officially exactly in the same hour I am writing this. And writing this is not rest, so I am going to stop here and allow myself to sleep at three-thirty in the afternoon. ALONE. With room darkening shades pulled in a clean space that is empty of all but a very few personal items chosen especially for this time of rest. And I will not feel guilty about it even though tomorrow is a special love-date for my wife and I, and some people would say that if I’m not working, I should be entirely devoted to the social energy of appreciating my wife and our marriage. But this year, with her support, I’m doing what I know is right and best for me to have the energy and capacity to be loving to her and others: I am spending our anniversary-eve ALONE. Resting. Enjoying solitude and as much sleep as I can fit in. Even though I keep wanting to tell her to come here, now. I am prioritizing REST FIRST. Knowing what is restful to me, which may not be what is restful to others … affirming that everyone deserves to get the rest they need, even if it is not what the picture of “rest” looks like in other people’s dictionaries.