Find a Place of Rest in the Middle of Things

by Carol Russell
An essay adapted from a Dhamma talk given August 5, 2025.

Welcome everyone. The title of this talk is the fourth invitation from the book, The Five Invitations, Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully. I’ve been using each invitation as inspiration for a talk. If you’re interested in the subject, do seek out the book – I know some of you have. I have been taking each invitation as an inspiration and making it my own, but there is more in the book, plus many stories from the author’s work in hospice.

The title of this invitation - Find a Place of Rest in the Middle of Things – I find brings on a kind of settling, a quieting, a peacefulness. 

There are many reasons we are practitioners of insight meditation or another spiritual or mindfulness practice. Some of our reasons may be conscious, some based on unquestioned assumptions. Yet, I would dare to guess that the desire to have the skills to find a place of rest, to have experiences of peace, in the midst of our lives is something most of us share. I know it’s on my list. Raise your hand if it’s on yours.

What is rest? For me, after a busy and active day, it feels so good to come home and rest. Or when I go camping in nature or stay in a cabin on a creek, it is restful to be away from the tasks and projects I have in Prescott. Or when a big task is completed – ‘now I can rest and enjoy myself,’ I think. And I do. It’s rejuvenating to complete things. 

I also find it really useful to consider, what is the assumption behind these thoughts?  Am I imagining that rest is about changing circumstances? Is rest something that’s only available once everything else is complete? If that is the case, moments of rest will be few and far between – a kind of singular event in the midst of life – or maybe out of reach.

What if a place a rest is within, available most any time, and not dependent on getting the right conditions arranged? What if this place of rest is a reliable part of life?

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