Hello all, I just came back from a week of vacation and at today’s pubtalk I would like to talk about how to rest.

When vacations was originally introduced it was often seen as a way of resting tired muscles, to lap some sunshine and doing nothing. Today for many rest and vacation is about resting your brain. This of course includes the process of writing… to rejuvenate ourselves we need other ways of gathering inspiration and to sieve the words that lay dormant, and maybe also learning to get a good night sleep again.

For me the best way to rest is to work my muscles. During my vacation I need to keep moving, to exercise and to focus about the simple ways of getting from place A to place B. In the evening I only crave a simple meal before a long night sleep.

Rest at Night
The Sun from shining,
Nature—and some Men—
Rest at Noon—some Men—
While Nature
And the Sun—go on—

Emily Dickinson

Especially in winter I find the silence of nature very restful, but in summer it’s the white sound of mountain stream. The sound of skies cutting the crust of the snow, and the way my heart beats faster when I push myself uphill; the ache of muscles after a long day outdoors. To me all this is restful.

If I go to bed with the sun, I can also wake with the sun. I write nothing, I read only very little, and in the evening we tell stories to other wanderers. To me it’s restful to forget the world outside and live in the moment.

Now I have returned… and there I feel a slight resistance to writing, and I know this is the mood I need to be an even better poet.

Please tell me, how do you find rest? Are there other tricks, that you can find without a total break from writing? Do we need rest at all? Tell me how it is for you? Do you need a special place?

I once found reading to be restful, but since I started writing it seems very close to work.

Or if you want to share a poem about rest that talks to you.