Rest is a meticulous love practice…
— Tricia Hersey

Rest.

It is not necessarily sleeping. (So many struggle to even get to sleep.)

Rest is more than staring at a screen or taking bubble baths.

Even when the mind is as noisy as a brawl or a bus station
Rest can be—must be—a silence.

Even for a moment

Rest from the external and the internal chatter and obsessions and rig-a-ma-rolling of the mind

Even if the prospect is something so stark or so noisy as quiet.

Rest is where true creativity resides.

Rest is where activism and movement for the good begins.

Choosing to rest is a radical act

Especially if you are awake enough to let yourself do it.

Rest: The ultimate act of engagement for change.¹

So take your breath.

Give your body all the air it needs.

Rest that weary soul.

Rest to expand after you contract.

Rest to re-member all your parts.

Rest to re-mind your mind of all you treasure.

Rest to ready yourself to give to others courageously.

Rest to live courageously so you can be all you truly are.

Rub the bone in front of your trembling heart.

Stare into space.

Go outside.

Listen to the tree, the trucks, the children, the dogs, the wind…

Listen to your precious self.

¹Note. “We are socialized into systems that cause us to conform and believe our worth is connected to how much we can produce. Our constant labor becomes a prison that allows us to be disembodied. We become easy for the systems to manipulate, disconnected from our power as divine beings and hopeless. We forget how to dream. This is how grind culture continues. We internalize the lies and in turn become agents of an unsustainable way of living.” From Rest is resistance: A manifesto by T. Millar, 2022.