This post is about Sunday, or any other day of the week you choose. Not everyone has Sundays off. So pick any day of the week that works for you as your Sunday. Pick that one day when you don't owe your time to anyone else. But you have to pick one, or at least a part of one, or the game’s no fun.
I’m going to say “Sunday” throughout this post, just because of the power of the word itself. Words are magic, you know. Words were the earliest form of magic, followed by the systems we devised for writing them. Runes are an alphabet, but also a set of magical symbols. Most early alphabets did double duty that way.
I’m big on words and letters and the like.
So when you say the word “Sunday” what kinds of images and feelings does it bring to mind? Just close your eyes and let the word float through your mind. Whisper it if you want.
Half the word is “sun” which conjures sunshine, blue skies, nice weather, green grass, shade-trees, the outdoors, summertime.
Combine it with “day” and it becomes a whole other level of joy. It’s all those things the word “sun” brings to mind, for an entire “day.”
Sunday, in many cultures, means a day off from the work we do on the other days.
The tradition of a day of rest each week goes all the way back to ancient Babylon and even further, to Sumer. It has been copied almost identically down through the ages into the Judeo-Christian tradition, where it has been boiled down to the 4th commandment, “Remember the sabbath and keep it holy.”
I love language and words, so naturally I wanted to know what words were in the ancient languages that got translated into holy. Interestingly, the original Hebrew word here is kadash, from the root word kodash, which simply means, “Set apart for a purpose.”
If I only wear my red pumps for dancing, they are set aside for that purpose. That’s as holy as the word translated into holy gets. It doesn’t mean sacred, other than in the sense of “Don’t you dare use my good china to feed the squirrels! That’s only for special family dinners!” That china is by definition, then, holy.
I must say, I have certain clothing, cords, jewelry, and tools that I only use in ritual, and I consider those holy (set aside for a specific purpose) and sacred (consecrated by association with the Divine.)
So even from the most ancient to the most recent understanding of this weekly practice, it’s a very simple thing. We’re to keep one day of each week set apart for a purpose. And in this case, we’re told all the way back to the beginning that the purpose is peace and rest.
What to do on the day off
It’s easiest to figure out what you don’t want, and from that extrapolate what you need. Ask what you need a break from. I do that by looking at what I do the rest of the week. I spend most of every day on the computer. There is always a TV on in the background and while it’s not tuned to news, I check in frequently. I’m mostly indoors and mostly sitting down, though I am strict about getting up and moving around and going outside frequently, and about closing my watch’s activity rings every day.
On my day off, then, the logical thing to do is to reverse that. I try to get away from the computer entirely. I spend the entire day outside instead of inside, active instead of sitting, with the TV and computer off instead of on.
I don’t do work, but I do play in my veggie gardens and lawn and water gardens, and all that. I don’t feel like that kind of work is work, because I enjoy it so much. On the other hand I don’t feel like my writing work is work either, because I enjoy it so much. But even if we love our daily tasks all week long, breaking the pattern is important. Crucial, really, to our mental, physical, and spiritual health.
The Benefits of Days Off
First of all, no matter how much we might love the work we do that pays our bills, it is inherently stressful. There are deadlines to meet, people to please, and the income that supports our entire lifestyle is riding on the backs of our daily jobs. They can’t help but be stressful on that basis alone.
Taking a really focused and intentional day off each week reduces stress dramatically. This, in turn, reduces inflammation, improves sleep, improves mental health, reduces high blood pressure, lowers risk of heart disease, lowers cancer risk.
Sidebar: People are always very surprised to learn how much their lifestyle impacts their health. It’s honestly 90% lifestyle and 10% genes. Even if you’re born with mutated genes, something has to turn them on, and other things can turn them off. A lot of the stuff that can turn good genes on and bad genes off is in what we eat and how we live.
Back on topic: Days off also improve our relationships, because when we care for our emotional well-being, we have more to offer them. We are better partners, better parents, better examples.
Days off give us time to focus on our home and our surroundings, to turn our focus inward a bit, to slow our pace, and really settle into our haven.
We work so hard to create and maintain our spaces and our lives. And yet many of us never take the time to really settle down and bask in them. We rarely take time to enjoy what we have created. That’s the true meaning of appreciation, not just giving thanks for what we have, but basking in it.
Days off clear the clutter from our minds. They blow the dust away, making room for fresh new ideas. So when we return to work, we’re sharper, clearer, more focused, and more energized.
Filling Days off
A lot of us fill our days off with work—not the fun kind, but the kind that feels like work. The tasks that pile up all week, the stuff we don’t want to do but feel we have to do. If we need a day to catch up with that unpleasant stuff, it can’t count as our day off. (*I have a little exercise/ritual for getting unpleasant stuff done below.)
But a lot of folks only get one day off each week. I get it, we move in and out of that situation, too. In that case, your day off might have to be a half-day. Maybe six consecutive hours off.
The most important thing is to truly take the time off, OFF. Even if it’s only six hours, you can still get all the benefits.
The second most important thing, maybe equally important thing, is to do this regularly. Be consistent and persistent. Make down time a priority.
Do it without feeling guilty or self-indulgent about it. It’s as important to our well-being as eating well, as exercise, as regular checkups.
Spending a chunk of time doing nothing at all is one the healthiest things we can do for ourselves.
What to Expect
Taking time to do something we love or to do nothing at all, or both, regularly, will bring a most counterintuitive outcome. You will get more work done than you would have, had you worked straight through. This seems illogical, but I promise you it’s true. You work better, you work faster, you’re less stale, and stuff gets done.
The effects ripple outward into every part of our experience, too. That’s because taking that time off feels good, which raises our vibration, tuning us to all the things that match those new and improved good feelings. Everything improves.
So that’s the advice this week. Especially when living through times of upheaval and extreme societal transformation—and I believe we are—down time is vital. So take it.
Now a little something extra.
BONUS: The Rite to Get Unpleasant Things Done
This is a spell inspired by Esther Hicks’ “Placemat Exercise.” But it makes a lovely ritual if you want to add a boost to its already inherent magic.
Esther Hicks’ Placemat Exercise
Esther came up with this exercise while at a diner with her husband Jerry, and wrote it on the back of a paper placemat, hence the name.
Think of all the things you feel you need to get done in the coming week or two weeks or whatever time period works for you.
Now take a piece of paper, or even a paper placemat and draw a line down the center.
Across the top of the left side, write, “Things I want to do”
Across the top of the right side, write, “Things I want the Universe to take care of for me.”
Then start sorting through your list, and writing each thing you think you need to get done in one column or the other. The things you’re going to enjoy doing, are eager to get to, feel ready to tackle, all go in the left column. The stuff you are dreading goes in the right column.
That’s as far as the exercise goes, but to really ritualize it, I do the following.
The Placemat Spell
Do exactly as outlined above, but do it within a cast circle.
Chant over the list, pushing power into it from your palms.
Legions lie at hand, Awaiting my command, I do what I like best, My backup’s got the rest So mote it be!
Then tear the sheet in two, right down the middle.
The left side list, the things you want to do and feel good about doing, set aside with a kiss.
The right side list, the things that you want the Universe to handle, ignite from a candle flame, and drop into a cauldron to burn, with a little hands over the fire clockwise motion and say…
Fire destroy, transform, create, What was written now is fate
It is done. Close up the circle.
Afterward, take the remaining list, the good list, and post it on the fridge or wherever, checking off the items you get done as you go along, milking the joy from the doing of each of them.
This spell usually manifests in one of the following ways, but there are infinite ways it might. For me, it’s usually one of the following.
One of the tasks on the unpleasant to-do list is suddenly no longer necessary. Some other event happened that rendered it moot.
One of the tasks on the unpleasant to-do list is handled by someone else.
I suddenly get an idea or a new tool that changes the unwanted task into one I want to handle, after all.
This has worked every time I’ve tried it.
Have fun with this. And from now on, try to give yourself a regular day off.
Feel good again!
Small-town rom-coms and a family you’ll never forget!
