ElderCare Expert Blog » peace http://www.agingpro.com/blog Inspiring, Educating and Empowering Caregivers Cheryl Mathieu, Ph.D., M.S.W. Tue, 15 Mar 2011 19:28:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Resting – for Caregiver Health http://www.agingpro.com/blog/2008/09/5-minutes-for-me-v2-rest/ http://www.agingpro.com/blog/2008/09/5-minutes-for-me-v2-rest/#comments Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:35:52 +0000 Cheryl Mathieu http://agingpro.com/blog/?p=69 Today, I’d like you all to stretch out of your comfort zones for 5 minutes for Me!   Today, I want you to just rest.  Yes, rest.  This could mean sleeping, or just sitting down and doing nothing.  Rest has a lot of value, including being restorative.

So, after you’re done reading this blog, please, go be somewhere just with you, turn off the lights and the phone and the pagers – put up a sign that says “unavailable for 5 minutes” and just rest.

Notice how you feel before and after your 5 minutes of rest. After resting for 5 minutes, celebrate and congratulate yourself for taking care of yourself and taking time for you! Leave the guilt behind.

If you’re like me, or other caregivers, taking time for yourself just to rest is an underutilized skill.  I remind myself regularly that rest is good and that it is productive – it just looks different than other types of productivity and the results are not always seen on the exterior.

Rest is important – it calms the nerves, decreases stress, and brings peace.

I want to hear from you – what do you do that brings you peace and calm?

Enjoy!

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