Battling the Mental Haze of a Heatwave (with 10 Quotes Supporting Mental Rest)

It’s been 100 degrees outside every day this week. I have been languishing in misery, missing my long daily walks and restful sleep, feeling irritable and foggy-headed, and generally not enjoying much. As someone who works from home, the heat affects me even more–I don’t have central air, and I only have an air conditioner in one room (which, for energy purposes, I cannot leave running all day every day).

It’s not my mood or feelings of discomfort that bother me the most, though. It’s the feeling of not being active and productive enough. It’s being limited in what I can reasonably do each day. It’s the naps and long hours of TV-watching with glazed-over eyes that make me feel even more sluggish.

I’ve been reading, but not with much joy. Sometimes reading is just a way to pass the time when you don’t feel like doing anything else. I completely believe in the necessity of rest, in all its forms: physical, mental, emotional, etc… I’ve been avoiding anything that feels like work while also feeling guilty about it, thinking about things I should be doing or could be doing, and as much as I enjoy blogging, it is work. It’s an awful lot of mental work.

So I thought about skipping this week, but consistency is important to me. But how can I share inspiration when I’m not feeling inspired? I considered looking up quotes on motivation and inspiration, but really if I am in need of mental rest, that sounds like more work. So I’m sharing quotes on mental rest–and I’m limiting myself to 10 quotes, the first 10 quotes that resonate with me. And then I’ll be done! I hope they help bring you some much-needed rest as well.

#1 Life isn’t as serious as the mind makes it out to be.

–Eckhart Tolle

#2 Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.

–A.A. Milne

#3 Peace is this moment without judgment.

–Dorothy Hunt

#4 Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. ...live in the question.

–Rainer Maria Rilke

#5 Nothing external to you has any power over you.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

#6 Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.

–John Lubbock

#7 Slow, deep breathing is important… It’s like an anchor in the midst of an emotional storm: the anchor won’t get rid of the storm, but it will hold you steady until it passes.

–Russ Harris

#8 Self-care is how you take your power back.

–Lalah Delia

#9 Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.

–Anne Lamott

#10 If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.

–Banksy