The Art of Rest: How to Find Respite in the Modern Age

by Claudia Hammond

Yet Socrates told us to beware the barrenness of a busy life. If we’re busy all the time, life lacks essential rhythm. We miss out on the contrasts between doing and not doing. This oscillation is natural and healthy.

we should swing back and forth between activity and rest, taking the latter as seriously as the former.

Throughout this book I’ve talked about how we need a balance between rest and activity each day. And I wonder whether walking is a special way of resting because of its inherent internal balance. It lets us off working, but while we do it we’re not exactly doing nothing, so can obtain some peace without feeling guilty. We have permission to think, but we also have distractions.