Week 6 Notes

Grief and Healing

“Capitalism was created on plantations. We as a culture class over this historical truth. We must grieve. Grieving is a sacred act and one of the ways we can begin to reconnect with out bodies, as we craft a rest practice.” p. 15

“A mind shift, a slow and constant practice filled with grace” p. 16

We should use every tool we have to constantly repair what grind culture has done to us” p. 16

“Embrace knowing that you have been manipulated and scammed by a violent system as powerful evidence. Now with this knowledge you can grieve, repair, rest, and heal.” p. 17

“Resting is ancient, slow and connected work that will take hold of you in ways that may be surprising. Let deprogramming from grind culture surprise you. Let your entire being slowly begin to shift. Get lost in rest. Pull up the blankets, search for softness and be open to the ways rest will surprise and calm you.” p. 17

“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

“Grind culture has traumatized us and then begin the lifelong process of healing from this trauma. This work is about more than simply naps and sleep, it is a full unraveling from the grips of our toxic understanding of our self-worth as divine human beings. Grieving in this culture is not done and is seen as a waste of time because grieving is a powerful place of reverence and liberation.” p. 28

“A grieving person is a healed person. Can you guess why our culture does not want a healed person in it?” p. 28

“I believe the powers that be don’t want us rested because they know that if we rest enough, we are going to figure out what is really happening and overturn the entire system.” p. 29

Black Ancestors “They straddled the lines between exhaustion and always thriving. They moved mountains with their faith alone and created pathways for invention that I am still uncovering. They resisted every moment by exiting in a world that was not welcoming or caring.” p. 46

“Sunday was not a day of rest for my parents, especially my father. It was a day of working tirelessly for the Lord.” p. 49

“Sunday was not a day of rest for my parents, especially my father. It was a day of working tirelessly for the Lord.” p. 49 (Revenge Waking)

“His love of community and God fueled him endlessly, but the toxic side to this passion was his overworking, exhaustion, and lack of caring for his body.” p. 51

“Grind culture killed my father and is killing us physically and spiritually. Sleep deprivation is a public health issue and racial justice issue.” p. 54

“It is firm evidence that we as a culture don’t have clarity about what rest is and can be.” p. 55

“We are born knowing how to rest and listen to what our bodies need…This inner knowing is slowly stolen form us as we replace it with disconnection. We have been bamboozled and led astray by a culture without a pulse button.” p. 55

“Everything we believe we know about rest is false.” p. 55

World is groaning/birthing (grieving) and systematically trying to give birth to a new one, we need to rest and let it do its thing: Romans

“I know that saving my own life from the exhaustion of racism, poverty, and sexism made space for all, no matter their race, to also begin dismantling process from these systems.” 

“I know that my visualizations of what a world without capitalism and oppression looks like is based on something I have never experienced in this lifetime. IT is dreamworld and alchemy. p. 57

“In postmodern womanist theology, salvation is an activity… A postmodern womanist theory strives for tangible representations of good. The good includes justice, equality, discipleship, quality of life, acceptance and inclusion” Monica Coleman p. 58 

“Yes the system continues raging and destroying, but we will not be able to tap into spaces of freedom, joy , and rest by pushing our precious bodies and minds in abusive ways. To rest is to creatively respond to grind culture’s call to do more. It’s the possibility of rest, reparations, resurrection, and repair that holds us like a warm, soft blanket. “ p. 59

“How do we transform grief to power?” p. 59 grief article https://pres-outlook.org/2023/05/grief-as-innovation/?fbclid=IwAR0-hhwOI0DYgJoZq-PE5g1OMEten2iGyq5kyYwJii6ozZWqfQgNYHJAV_w

“There is space to just allow rest to settle and answer the questions for us.” p. 60

“We must remain committed to building community and go into the deepest cracks to gather and care for anyone left behind. Trading each other and ourselves and with care isn’t a luxury, but an absolute necessity if we’re going to thrive. Resting isn’t an afterthought, but a basic part of being human.” p. 61

“We must make space for rest in small and large ways.” p. 61 Make room for the Holy Spirit–is this what that phrase means? Make room for hope, is this what this means?

CORRECTION “The concept of filling up your cup first so you can have enough in it to put to others feels off balance. It reeks of language that is part of our daily mantra. Language like ‘I will sleep when I am dead,’ “rise and grind,’” and is geared to women p.62 esp. marginalized!!! 

“I propose that the cups all be broken into little pieces” Something about communion here p. 63 

“I don’t want to pour anymore. p 63