Archive for March, 2010
Like any machine, your body must alternate between activity and rest. You cannot over-exert or over-rest it. Either way, you will have trouble. If over-exerted, it will wear out or collapse. You can get sick. If under-exerted, you will lose stamina and gain weight, plus other disorders that proceed from inactivity. Keep in mind that your entire pursuit is confined to the capabilities of this wonderful machine, called your body, but you must listen to its needs for both activity and rest.
You have no trouble being active. Studying feverishly is heightened activity, physical and mental. You may. in fact, be burning your energies up too fast with studying and support activities. You can, however, trust your body to complain when you are overworking it. Pains, dizziness, weakness and other disabilities are signals of misuse or abuse of the body.
But your body needs regular and sufficient breaks. So does your mind. When you feel tired, have time alone apart from others. You need time alone in contemplation or solitude to re-think the meaning of what you are doing, to reevaluate your present position. You need to recharge, and this can happen only when you are in a state of physical and mental rest.
You can do this right in your room, at the garden, in the chapel or in any safe room that is quiet enough to allow you the chance to review everything going on. Get back to your highest principles and analyze the details. Are you in the right track, or is there anything that should be re-arranged or re-organized? You need time for yourself to sort things out and that time is when activity stops for a while. Make it a habit to re-evaluate yourself and how you are going through life. This keeps you in touch with your principles and objectives, with God and with yourself.