The Happy Healthy Manifesto
Napping, rest, relaxation, stillness, quiet, all these things are radical acts in this society as we have been brainwashed by capitalism to believe that to rest and relax is lazy. All those worker bees out there, feeling like they are too busy to stop for even a moment, I wonder if they realise that they have been conned? Misled not for the benefit of you, but for the system, the man, big business, those in power with the most money and the most to gain from your productivity. What would happen if you just stopped for a moment? What would happen if you weren’t working flat out to your maximum range of ability at all times. When do you recharge the energy you expel working so hard? When do you replenish yourself?
And do you pass this ethic onto your children? Do you encourage them to be busy all of the time? Because that is what we expect will make them successful, just like we are successful. Do we want them to be just like us? Work hard, get a good home, a car, a wife or husband, have a couple of kids and start all over again. The schools are turning out those worker bees in drones now – teaching our children how to fit in, how to get a good job. How to thrive in the world today. And if they don’t fit in they are not normal.
We have this idea that something is only worth doing if you are good at it. There is no room for enjoyment any more. There isn’t enough time, is there? We are too busy for things to just be fun. They have to be productive as well. We have to make the most of our time.
Were you told at school that you weren’t creative? You hear it all the time, “I’m just not creative, I haven’t got a creative bone in my body.” Is this because you didn’t fit into your school’s idea of what is good, in the one art class that you have a week? And who’s to say they even know what they are talking about? Creativity isn’t just art either, it’s is so many things, it can almost be anything. Anything that allows you to express yourself freely. And it shouldn’t even matter if you are good at it. That’s not the point. You shouldn’t have to be good at something to enjoy doing it.
Relaxation is an art form. It’s not easy and its not comfortable. Especially when we have been conditioned to think that it makes us lazy. Its is an art form to be practiced like any other. And its ok to practice it even if you aren’t good at it.
Lets get radical – let’s practice more relaxation, nap more, set your boundaries,
take time to replenish your reserves. Lets set an example for our children, that its ok to look after ourselves, in fact it’s a responsibility.
Patience. Everything is as it should be. Everything is. You are.
Are you with me? Together we are stronger.