Rest is a Spiritual Practice
I’ve been expanding. Since the start of the year, my life has ramped up exponentially - from building a brand in a new role, to writing my story, to launching a social media platform, to pursuing dance and fitness, to traveling, and going on photoshoots. I’ve always been a “private person,” or used this excuse to keep my life small, my shine dulled. The benefit to a small life is that you have plenty of time to yourself, to recharge, to collect your energy, and stay centered. Being highly sensitive, whether my life is big or small, I know I need this, and I haven’t been doing it.
Last night, it all finally caught up with me, and I realized I hadn’t been very mindful of my time and energy, which is easy to do when you are fueled by passion. Even still, growing pains are real, and I am exhausted. I realized that certain things have also fallen out of focus over the past two weeks, especially writing my story, posting daily, engaging with my community, and attending dance classes. Exhausted and off-center.
Rest is a spiritual practice. We use it to reconnect with ourselves, to refocus, to recharge, and to ground. This time in stillness is just as sacred as the life-force energy feeding our passions. Without it, we aren’t in our wholeness, our power to create the life we dream of, to fulfill our purpose.
Tonight, after cleaning my apartment, my space that I have let get so out of hand in this chaos, I rest. I do this by lighting candles, turning my lights off or to a low setting, putting on music I can move to, and dancing with my eyes closed so I can reconnect with my body. Then I’ll sit and write for an hour, two if I can bear it. Sometimes I use a little cannabis, sometimes not.
How do you rest and reconnect with yourself?
This piece was originally featured in a May 3, 2019 post on Instagram.
