Best Practices 1/15

To live and be our best requires staying and functioning in rest. One significant factor, applied to our daily rhythm of life and keeps our rest at a healthy level, is knowing the difference between solitude and isolation. Isolation is reactionary and happens when you hit the low level of your emotional tank. Isolation is when you say to yourself you don’t want to see another person, you don’t want be around any kind of interactions with people, you want to get away from it all and close the world out. This will happen at some point and does happen when we don’t follow the plan of our creator and designer and proactively seek solitude with regularity. God said every seven days have a day of rest, unplug from work and find space for mind and soul to be refreshed with tank filling activity by being in communion with God and doing things that build you up. Solitude is proactive, not reactive. Jesus himself often said he needed to step away and have time with the Father alone. I learned a simple but helpful rule of life: “Every 7, step away.” Every 7 days, every 7 weeks break away for a couple of days, and every 7 months put on the calendar that you need a vacation or extended sabbath. It’s wise living and smart to cooperate with the way you and I are designed. We need to accept these limitations and to see them as proactive conditions for optimal rest, so we may live our best. 

Q: What was one vacation or weekend that really filled your tank?

Q: If being too busy keeps you from proactively scheduling solitude, what will be the outcome?