Following our workshop on this theme in May 2025, here are some reflections, enquiries and explorations.

Context

We began with an understanding that everything needs forms of nourishment, and everything has limits. Even inanimate objects of human invention such as a car, needs fuel, won’t work without it, and gives us warning signals when the tank is near empty. And what about animate things? Bringing to mind the bear that hibernates during the winter months, the leaves on the tree that have their own annual life cycle, and what about human beings?

Most of us are born into a society characterised by an industrialised, mechanical, capitalistic, patriarchal model. This being the ‘norm’ and transposed onto the human means our lives, in the mainstream, are defined in terms of production, results, performance, success, goals (profit, achievement, more in less time), doing, consumption, domination, etc. Our value and sense of worth is measured by these things. It doesn’t take long, when we look at the consequences of this system, to see the damaging effects on the environment, the geo-political world, animals and human beings. Have we normalised the unhealthy and the unsustainable?

On the individual this can create high and unrealistic expectations, pressure both internal and external, disregard for limits, desensitisation (dehumanisation) such as overriding bodily signals, and more, where there are no winners and the direction moves towards collapse. Confounded by tendencies to blame oneself for not managing, to endeavour to “fix” oneself in order to conform, to compare and compete with others, with an ongoing internal voice that says “I should be…”, feelings of not being/doing enough etc. It becomes very personal. With stress-management on the shoulders of the individual, a well-being industry behind it and token initiatives at the workplace, we really miss the point, and are treating the symptoms (important as it is) and not the causes.

Signals

So, what are the signs and signals that our tank is nearly empty, when we feel all the juice is being squeezed out of us? In the fast-paced system of too much to do, getting things done as soon as possible and by a deadline, we can also internalise this frenzied, agitated, anxious, hurried mode. We may also experience the exhaustion, overwhelm and burn out of our internal system just unable to keep up. We may feel under obligation and responsibility. And it’s likely that we will be internally evaluating/judging ourselves as somehow failing in some way.

Do we feel the imbalance? And/or a relentless yo-yoing between the extremes (high energy of agitation & low energy of overwhelm)?

Are we over-valuing the active (doing/producing/consuming) and under-valuing the receptive (being/resting/nourishing) ? Are we neglecting something here? 

What is it that nourishes us, and what do we wish to feed? In addition to our needs for good air, water and food, what is it that nourishes the heart? What replenishes our juiciness? When do we feel well? As social beings that develop strong bonds with others, that thrive in connection and relationship, that find meaning and fulfilment, what are some of our other essential needs? What part of ourselves is calling us when we are feeling out of balance or running on empty? 

Renewal

When we look at the natural world around us, from a seed to the universe, renewal arises naturally and often after something passes, releases and clears. It seems to come from the receptive side rather than the effortful. The hibernating bear doesn’t set her alarm for Spring, yet is awakened when the time is right. It can be helpful to notice that our inhale arises most naturally & fully after a good release of the breath on the exhale, we could say an attention to the exhale creates good conditions for the inhale. If vitality and refreshment come forth more from doing less and releasing, what does that mean for us, and our world?

We have become creatures, shaped by the model of society, whose habits are to do more in order to get something. That’s the conditioning and the education. It’s what we have practiced and so we’re good at it, it’s the default. Give me the tools and techniques or the pill to give me vitality, I’m on it! And thus the cycle continues and the to-do list lengthens….Should getting or being well be so tiring, is it a commodity? 

How about we reframe things and ask what is to be relinquished or released? Are there some out-dated beliefs and ideas that may have served a purpose years ago but are no longer helpful? Whose beliefs are they anyway? Seeing conditioning as conditioning, a shaping and moulding that is neither the truth nor fixed. Views from 500 years ago and in 500 years time will not be the same as the ones we host today. Making inquiry into some of the conventions that we take to be the norm – questioning them, asking does this lead to the well-being of myself and others? Part of the nature of habits is that we no longer notice them, they become so familiar, even comfortable. It may require courage and curiosity, humility and sympathetic self-regard to look into this, and untangle some of the knots. 

What would it mean, and how would it look like, if we valued rest and receptivity for what they are – inherent aspects of our existence, like the air we breath, necessary for the fulfilment and blossoming of this particular part of the natural world we call ourselves?

Some practical explorations

Going about the daily life unhurried

Listening more

Noticing how we relate to time (waste of time, saving time, not enough time etc.)

Intentionally doing less (what comes up? resistance, judgement, guilt, relief etc. )

Noticing resistance in the form of “Yes, but…” and “When such and such…then I….”

Intentionally resting and/or not in doing mode (what comes up?)

Listening to body signals of stress

Listening to the emotional signs

Noticing how our language & concepts come from the system (mechanistic/productive/consuming)

Moving the body within limits of comfort and ease (at yoga class for example)

Responding to the body with gentleness (e.g. if there’s muscle tension we could help the release rather than try to fix with a forced stretch)

Noticing the presence of rest and renewal in the natural world, and when it arises within us

Games of honouring this part of ourselves (giving it value, making the rest & receptivity a sacred act, or a form of engaged activism)

Nourishing the heart – doing the things that bring a smile, joy, sense of fulfilment, meaning, that tickle our energy levels

Remembering what we loved when we were children

Respecting limits (clear boundaries)

Sympathetic self-regard (non-blaming, drop the put-downs)

Cultivating trust in inner-authority (listening inwards, quietening doubt)

Permission (to do or not do, to be oneself, to take a nap, to listen to the heart etc.)

Not needing to justify

Tending to the creative impulse

What else?