I often hear people saying that they just don't have the time to relax. They just can't make the time to renew and replenish and take care of their mental well-being. By renewing and replenishing I mean spending some time calming the mind. To help it relax and sharpen it. Dr. Stephen Cover in his book Seven habits tells us a an interesting story about why we should bother spending time renewing ourselves. The story clearly illustrates the point...
Once a strong and hard working woodcutter was trying to saw through the trunk of a fallen tree. It was very large and even though the wood cutter had been sawing for hours he hadn’t even cut halfway through.
A wise farmer was passing by and he stood and watched the woodcutter for a moment. He then asked the woodcutter “What are you doing?”
The woodcutter was annoyed. He turned towards the farmer and replied “Don’t you see? I am cutting through the tree!” He then carried on sawing furiously at the tree trunk.
The wise farmer replied “You look exhausted. How long have you been working on it?”
The woodcutter continued sawing crazily and said ” Yes cutting through the tree is hard work. I have been working for over 3 hours.”
The wise farmer then said “The blade of your saw is surely blunt from all the sawing. Why don’t you stop for a few minutes, take a break from this back-breaking work and at the same time sharpen the saw?”
The woodcutter carried on sawing in a frenzy and shouted angrily: “I don’t have time to sharpen the saw! I have all this wood to cut!“
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