What does it mean to relax? Despite hearing this term thousands of times during the course of our lives, very few people have deeply considered what it’s really about.
When you ask people what it means to relax, most will answer in a way that suggests that relaxing is something you plan to do later – you do it on vacation, in a hammock, when you retire, or when you get everything done. This implies, of course, that most other times should be spent nervous, agitated, rushed and frenzied. Very few actually come out and say no, but this is the obvious implication. Could this explain why so many of us operate as if life were one great big emergency? Most of us postpone relaxation until our “in-basket” is empty. Of course it never is.
It is useful to think of relaxation as a quality of heart that you can access on a regular basis rather than something reserved for some later time.