Rest Because You Are Enough
Dear Deep Soul,
As Fall in the northern hemisphere has settled in, I notice my need for more sleep, my own need to settle in. My body clock adjusts to when it gets light, and with it getting lighter later, I wake up later. I appreciate how my body instinctively knows when these shifts occur.
What have you noticed about your body’s response?
To make the transition gentler I have consciously chosen to give myself more “space” in between work, calls, and things I am doing. Doing so makes me feel more supported, rejuvenated instead of drained.
Funny how what you put attention on starts to show up more in your life, right?
While focused on slowing down and resting I found myself listening to a podcast called You Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle, and she, her sister Amanda, and partner Abby were interviewing Tricia Hersey. The more I listened to this remarkable woman the more my mind was blown, and in the best of ways!
She talked about rest as a form of resistance. And in her book, Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto, Tricia had written, “Rest saved my life. This is my truth. I don’t need anyone else to verify this nor do I need complicated theories to support what I know to be true in my heart, my body, and my spirit.”
These words alone are balm to my soul! This performance artist community organizer founded an organization called the Nap Ministry. Talk about a contradiction to the overly busy and exhausted world we live in!
The tenets of the Nap Ministry let you know this is much deeper work than just a little nap and then you’re good to go, back to work and burn out!
Tricia Hersey shatters the old system that says if we work extremely hard, work more than one job, and have no down time—we are somehow doing what we’re supposed to do.
If we’re going to dismantle the form of capitalism that has us working harder with less time for ourselves and others and what’s most important in our lives; I believe Tricia’s work can help us create something new and better, as she says, help us dream again.
Tricia suggests that rest is a natural born right that everyone has and needs.
Resting supports my ability to dream outside of the box and resist a system that does not support all people’s rights to rest due to dominant toxic culture thinking that many unconsciously carry. This exploitative system demands that people work harder, and exhaust themselves until they can’t do more because the body gives out, the immune system fails and disease occurs.
Rest offers me the opportunity to settle down and begin to uncover and look within myself (as challenging as this might be at times) and notice how I feed the colonized world as a white woman and my part in it. Doing this practice feels like spiritual work connected to social activism. Disrupting the old paradigm by resting is a way to make room for new ideas of justice, liberate myself from power-over thinking, and create earth-based healing. By resting I get more time to grieve, live, laugh, love, and connect with myself and others in a kinder and gentler way.
Now those that know me know I’m not a napper. However, I am deeply concerned about how stressed out, busy, and anxious people are these days. I know that I swim in “busyness” and I’m beginning to dip my toes into more rest for greater rejuvenation.
I do understand that resting can look like many things for many people. For some it may be meditation, for others it might really be sleeping. It can be dreaming, journaling, chi energy work, receiving a foot rub, reading a good book for pleasure, or it might be closing your eyes and just listening to the sounds around you.
Do whatever allows your body temple to heal and be restored. The beauty of this is you get to decide—and you get to give yourself “permission” to activate this self-love practice and give yourself some rest time. No one else can do it for you!
I highly recommend you read Tricia Hersey’s book and consider the powerful ramifications of doing more conscious resting knowing that “resting is resistance,” which can facilitate collective kindness, healing, and dreaming together. If this calls you—please consider this and take it to a deeper level this season.
For me, journaling is a powerful way that I rest. I take time to sit and dream, look around and listen and feel what is within me and moving around me.
Another aspect of rest for me is what I do immediately after I exercise. I really enjoy the ritual of making a nutritious and delicious green smoothie (find the recipe here). I get to go outside to pick fresh greens from the garden (some we’re freezing for use in the winter), then sit and sip, allowing each of my cells to drink in and enjoy this refreshing restoration. For me, it’s a special moment each day. Listen within YOUR heart to determine what rest looks like for you and what feels really good when you do it.
Nature and the Cosmos
The month of November will delight you with a few meteor showers…so take note! November 4 and 5 will be the Taurids meteor shower. On November 6, the time changes for some.
Is this part of this antiquated system that encourages us to work more rather than rest? How can we not just adapt to what we’re told or given and make it work for us?
The following week we see the Full Frosty Moon plus a total lunar eclipse! That means the moon will get dark and then get red. Don’t miss this special event.
The Leonids Meteor Shower appears November 17 and 18. Be sure to step outside at night to look for stars shooting across the sky. November 23 is the new moon. Release old wounds and do a healing cleanse of thoughts and old beliefs that don’t serve you anymore. Our traditional Thanksgiving in the US was created by a Protestant colonial mindset. How does that serve us today?
What if we reimagine what we can do to start healing ourselves and the earth and see the divinity in everyone and everything—and find gratitude in that?
A final word from the amazing Tricia Hersey:
“Your body is a site of liberation. It doesn’t belong to capitalism. Love your body. Rest your body. Move your body. Hold your body.”
And with that, I hold each of you in my heart as we settle into the fullness of fall in November of 2022.
Go Deeper to Be Greater,
