Candling- it’s a new way of life

 For those hardy souls who read my last post Living in a State of Emergency we are still, I’m sorry to report, knee deep within that sad state of affairs. 

The sickness seems to have mercifully ceased but now the full blown diarrhoea has started in earnest. 

If you are new here (please stay… it’s fun!) I am referring to my three year old boy who unfortunately has had a bout of vomiting and diarrhoea… hopefully it’ll end soon… 

However, in the midst of all of this turmoil, I have discovered a life changing secret… and it was under my nose for years…

The secret is candling- the art of lighting as many candles as you can in your home without burning it down. I discovered we had a plethora of these hiding in various cupboards and vowed to put them to good use as part of my quest to achieve the Just Rest lifestyle developed by podcasting sages Sam Delaney and Andy Dawson (Google them… no seriously Google them). 

Once I fired up my Yankee candle along with a couple of wax melt burners which I conveniently found too, I instantly felt more relaxed as my living room infused with deep pomegranate. As my boy played with his trains in between trips to the toilet, I simply enjoyed the calm. 

Many will be understandably curious about the Just Rest lifestyle. It doesn’t mean sitting about 24/7 and not going to work- it’s more about finding moments within your day to take care of yourself and ensure you are on an even keel. It could be a nap, making a brew, eating a Kit Kat or like me, enjoying some simple candling. Simply- it’s anything you can do to relax. 

Our lives have become far too hectic. You are still judged by how ‘hard’ you work. That is an incredibly narrow thing to be judged by. How does kindness fit into this? How does compassion fit into this? How does looking after your family fit into this? We deserve to be valued in a far wider range of ways than how productive you are for the company you work for. That’s why Just Rest is so important- it’s us paying bad the debts we owe to ourselves. 

That’s much more important than work trust me. Anyway I’m off to light a few candles, pull up a blanket and read my book.