Work with your Mind, Sabbath with your Hands

BY : AVERI WHITMAN

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Abraham Joshua Heschel once wrote, “If you work with your hands, sabbath with your mind. If you work with your mind, sabbath with your hands ”… it absolutely changed my perspective on what it looks like for me to rest.

How we work…

As individual humans, we all utilize our brains in different ways during our working hours. Whether you are running your household during the day or sitting through back-to-back meetings or creating works of art with your hands, you are exerting mental, physical or emotional energy.

For me, I deal with a lot of numbers and logistics and schedules during my working hours. I’m using “mind” energy. Whereas, someone working in a trade like construction, or an athlete, is using a lot of physical energy. 

This concept Heschel introduces gives us freedom to rest in a way that will be most beneficial to our individual beings. 

I love the idea of coming home after work and sitting down with a book and my favorite beverage, but my mind cannot take in any more information after a full day of meetings. This may be the best way to rest for someone else, but it’s not restful in my case. We can let go of the shame in that. Comparison would love for us to believe that “rest” is supposed to look exactly like our favorite influencers cozy evening. But that might actually not be restful for us at all.

 We are all built differently. We all spend our working hours differently.

So what is Sabbath…

I know there is a more refined definition out there, but to me it simply means a day of rest. 

I used to spend my “rest” days lounging on the sofa, doom-scrolling and literally not doing anything. While I do believe there is a time and a place for that type of rest, I would end those days feeling more groggy and not at all rested. 

For myself, I’ve found that I feel more content (read: rested) when I’ve spent my day doing something physical or creating something with my hands. 

My body is craving  physical activity. Sometimes that looks like rearranging our home or cooking a new recipe. Maybe it’s painting or working with my sourdough. I finish my day feeling a sense of contentment and therefore I feel rested and filled with purpose. 

Working with my mind

& then

Resting with my hands 

It’s become my favorite way to “turn off”. What about you? Have you found this to be true for yourself?