May Sarton Quotes

Faffing is good. It is an important part of life. Faffing is when we disconnect from the matrix and idle for a while, like a car. Our body and spirit know deep down that human beings were not made for constant toil so subconsciously creates space through the mechanism of faffing.

I find I have to give myself a day when I just shut myself off and do nothing but read.

We need time to defuse, to contemplate. Just as in sleep our brains relax and give us dreams, so at some time in the day we need to disconnect, reconnect, and look around us.

Sleeping is like meditation: it's good to rest the body but also to shut the mind down for a bit.

It's important to know when we need to stop, reflect, and receive. In our competitive world, that might be called a waste of time.

It's easy to operate under the illusion that what we are doing is so important we cannot stop doing it. ... Stopping is a spiritual act. It is the refuge where we drink life in.

At least once a week, I try to have one day where I have nothing planned so I can get up and just go back to bed and lay around and recharge my batteries.

It's nice to sit down when you're not working. I try to do it as often as possible.

'Transformers' gives people the ability to relax and rest for three hours. That's a substantial amount of time, given how plugged in to our devices we are. People don't give themselves enough time to sit down. They're no longer comfortable with themselves.

I still find it almost impossible to relax for more than one day at a time.

Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.

People are never quiet. It's go, go, go. I'm a go-getter, but you need rest and silence, just to sit around and think about things.

I love doing just nothing in my free time.

Once a week, I spend a day luxuriating in bed. I like staying in my house, pottering around, and maybe cooking or just laying around reading. I love doing yoga and transcendental meditation.

I definitely like not working sometimes. It's so fun. I just love sleeping in. In America, everyone is driven to succeed and wake up and do something. But I don't care. I want to sleep in. I want to relax. I don't want to have to get up every day.

Downtime for me is just when I can sit still.

A few years back, I had this urge to be on the go all the time. It's important to find a balance, though. Now my motto is, do the work, but recharge, too!

It's good to reflect on life and take a step back and sit and relax and do something else.

Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes.

People who work hard often work too hard. ... May we learn to honor the hammock, the siesta, the nap and the pause in all its forms.

On Sundays, I lay low, sulk a lot, and try to get my head together for next week.

We need to build downtime into our lives, so that we can have solitude without feeling overcome with guilt.

Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.

We humans have lost the wisdom of genuinely resting and relaxing. We worry too much. We don't allow our bodies to heal, and we don't allow our minds and hearts to heal.

When I start getting embroiled in heated debates and feeling stressed, I just turn everything off and disconnect from the world. I simply tell my colleagues and friends that I am not well and need to cancel all meetings for a day or more. I take it easy - go for a long hike, take a vacation somewhere, or just stay at home and read.