Hi First name / beautiful,
I hope you are feeling somewhat restored after this long and wintry month. I felt called to write to you again :) As I shared in my
January Newsletter, in The School of the Sacred Wild, the herbalism program in which I'm apprenticing, our theme for January is
Rest & Dream. It has been so delicious to utterly sink into this theme and intention, and nearing the end of the month there are just some beautiful resources and ponderings that I wanted to share with you ~
As I have been partaking in some form of "digital detox", turning my phone off in the evenings and back on as late as I can in the mornings, I have found this to be restorative. So much more so than airplane mode or "do not disturb". The feeling of being unavailable, truly, is something I'd like to continue to lean into during my “off hours” this year. It is liberating.
That being said, there are many nights in which even though my phone is off, I'm still watching tv from the tub. I am someone (Taurus Rising) who could (and will) watch the same show, and the same movies, again and again. I find it to be comforting for my nervous system: the predictability, the shows made pre pandemic or even pre 2010. I often rotate between Seinfeld, Friends, Sex & the City, and currently it's Parks and Recreation. Watching Parks & Rec while in the Rest & Dream of it all is kind of a spiraling experience. Leslie Knope, one of the most iconic characters and women in nbc comedy television, who is endlessly thoughtful, hysterical, over-the-top, and herself…does not rest. I'm watching realizing this after each episode when she is up all night coming up with a town-saving idea, or working through having a flu in which she is so delirious that she perceives the walls and the floor to switch places, there are examples in almost every episode. And I can't unsee it.
After listening to this incredible interview with
Tricia Hersey of The Nap Ministry on the podcast For the Wild, I can't unsee it. After reading Ashley Neese's book,
Permission to Rest, I can't unsee it. And after tuning into
Tracee Stanley's work with yoga Nidra and the body, I especially can't unsee it. What I can't unsee is how brainwashed we are into productivity. Even when it comes to resting, we can only rest if we've earned it. We can only enjoy rest if we've saved up for it. We even task our selves with lists of tv shows and podcasts to “get through”, when they are intended for pleasure. It is just something I have been thinking deeply about and witnessing around me. I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences in relation to rest ~
And in that theme, I wish you a restful span of time ahead <3
