Embrace Rest

There are things in this life that make our hearts beat with renewed energy. These activities are energizing and centering, they make the world feel right. We’ve noticed the things that give us rest also  give us life. But why is it these activities never seem to get top priority?

We spend time each day giving every ounce of ourselves to our kids, husbands, schools, friends, churches and countless other deserving tasks. And this is good.

But what would it look like if we found balance between that which takes of us and that which gives back?

Could life become more abundant if there were permission to engage the life-giving?

ARTICLE IDEAS:

• Define rest. What does it look like? How does it change us?
• 3 important steps to gracefully say “no,” or pull back from current commitments to create margin
• 5 ways to find your unique mix of life-giving activities
• What are the negative effects of lack of rest?
• 4 reasons every mom must learn to receive care
• It’s easy to create rest or life-giving projects in the margins of our schedule, but what would change if we planned everything else around the activities that refuel us?
• How embracing rest includes both adding and deleting activities, commitments, thoughts, etc.
• It can be hard to take a Sabbath or devote an entire day to rest as a family. 6 ways to embrace rest in the everyday
• Addiction (to alcohol, TV, shopping, media, etc.) is the opposite of restoration. How to exchange the numbing for the restorative
• Steps to finding peace in the mind, body and soul
• We have a coworker whose family makes it a priority on Sundays to look into each other’s eyes. 4 weekly traditions that build restful patterns for the whole family
• Sometimes, embracing rest is to grow by breaking the monotony. We have a friend who told us she rested by becoming an expert in 4 things that are of interest to her. 3 ideas to rest by growing
• Kids are all different, even within the same family. 5 steps to help school-aged kids regulate how they rest and thrive
• Ways to incorporate “free play” time to help your kids find what it is they find life-giving
• Any heart-touching or hilarious mom story

Submission deadline – December 27, 2015

How to Submit

To add your voice to the conversation, send your submission to content@MOPS.org.

Submission Information

For more information about the tone of our materials and our submission process go to www.themom.co/writers-guidelines (Insider hint: We take these very seriously, so it’s important you take a peek before submitting.)

Submission Process

Just so you know, all articles are received on speculation. We will respond to all submissions when they are received to confirm submission with the submission agreement. If your article is selected for publishing, we will email you in advance with the date we will be publishing and the permalink for your records.

And Since You Always Ask

Yes, you may send material that has been previously posted. Just make sure it meets our editorial needs first. Because, again, we take those pretty seriously.

What about General Content?

Yes, we certainly accept general articles about parenting, mothering and woman-related issues. In fact, we’re always up for a good tear-jerker or one of those stories that gets us laughing. We welcome those submissions through the same submissions process, but we should tell you up front that since we’re a theme-based magazine, we only publish a few.