Week 5 Notes

Worth and Blessedness

“We have been trained to believe that everything we accomplish is is because of our own pushing alone. This is false because there is a spiritual dimension that exists in all things and in everything we do. To understand that we are spiritual beings navigating life in a material world opens us to the possibility os rest as a spiritual practice. Our entire living is a spiritual practices. Much of our resistance to rest, sleep and slowing down is an ego problem….We can do nothing alone.” p. 18

“Fear is a function of grind culture..” p. 22

“We believe we are only meant to survive and not thrive. We see care as unnecessary and unimportant. We believe we don’t really have to rest. We falsely believe hard work guarantees success in a capitalist system. p. 24

The thought of not doing, even for a short time, is seen as lazy and unproductive. So an explanation for rest as a form of justice is layered and danced.” p. 27

most concise ways: “Rest makes us more human. It brings us back to our human-ness. To be more human. To be connected to who and what we truly are is at the heart of our rest movement.” p. 27

“Rest is not a privilege because our bodies are still our own, no matter what the current systems teach us….Our bodies and Spirits do not belong to capitalism, no matter how it is theorized and presented.” p. 28-29

“I Trust the Creator and my Ancestors to always make space for my gifts and talents without needing to work myself into exhaustion.” p. 29

“Our rest is centered on connecting and reclaiming our divinity, given to us by our birth.” p. 62

“Without examining ;the hold social media has over our lives, we will never be able to push any rest movement forward. IT’s simply not possible because social media is an extension of capitalism.” p. 71

“I see the brilliance and miracle of human beings. We are not machines.” p. 74

“Is the Nap Ministry just for Black people?’ The question itself stems from a white suprematist mindset that refuses to accept this truth: Black libration is a balm for all humanity and this message is from all those suffering from the ways of white supremacy and capitalism.” p. 75

“White people have had their humanity stripped from them via white supremacy. They are spiritually deficient and blinded by the idea that they are superior to other divine human beings. The lineage of terror, violence, enslavement resides in those bodies and hearts.” p. 76

“My freedom from grind culture is intimately tied up in the healing and liberation of all those around me. Community care and full communal unraveling is the ultimate goal for any justice world, because without this we will be left vulnerable to the lie of toxic individualism.” p. 76

“Rest is a meticulous love practice.” p. 147

“Do not let your lack of money and possessions make you feel negative about your worth as a human being.” p. 148

Do not let your credit score, man-made poverty, and/or racism define your extreme power. Your body is a site of liberation.” p. 148

“Your birth was not a coincidence.” p. 148

“You can rest. You can shift. You can heal. You can resist. You can lay down right now. If you are in a safe space that would allow for you to lay down, please do so as you read. If it’s not safe to recline. just slow down your breathing. Visualize your favorite place to slumber and relax. Go there in your mind. May these rest moments multiply as you integrate more into your daily practice.”  p. 148

“You don’t have to be always be creating, doing, and contributing to the world. Your birth grants you rest and leisure as well.” p. 152