Earlier this year I was invited to an incubator centering Respite for Black Woman. It was a multi diverse gathering with mostly Black Women who came together to flow experiences, ideas and vibes as to what Black Woman Rest looks like, feels like, smells like, why it's needed, why we don't have it naturally or nurturally (that's not a word I make shit up cuz it's my blog) and how we can get the rest we need. It was understood that there was no right answer and the conversation would be open ended and fluid.
The weekend was life changing for me and I literally could not touch the subject of "that weekend" as I had no words to describe the frequencies that I had ascended to. I'm still finding my way but what I can say however, is that we were not here. We had left this reality behind and settled in for a new reality marked by a newness that had no name. We brought this no name newness back with us but more importantly what we left behind was fertile ground that made the next phase of visioning possible. A Movement.
"That weekend was life changing for me "
Something I became clear on and it's now the subject of this post, is that Black Women inherentantly have a precarious, mysterious relationship with rest. For some of us, our doing doing doing comes for the stigma we fight to prove we are not lazy. For some of us who wear their work ethic as a proud badge of honor, having a seat will will get you thrown out off the island. Still for some, throwing on our Superwoman cape is a worthy identity that keeps us from actually solving the very problems that we complain about. We're so incredible busy and at the same time exhausted yet we won't stop.
I saw this while vacationing with my dear sister friend who could not sit her ass down or keep her ass still. I saw this while visiting a mature woman of worldly experience who graciously hosted my friends and I in her home this summer.
She flutter all around her kitchen like a brillant Black Butterfly in service to our visit. She barely sat down and if we needed something she was on her feet before you barely finished your request. Her busyness was captivating and it kept me, who seeks every opportunity to talk, in quiet observance.
I saw this "busy busy" in another good friend, who although ill was still sending emails and working from her sick bed at home.
I hear these wishes to rest from single moms who say like they don't get any days off, ever but are busy busy doing doing even when the kids are with their father or grandmother.
Let's face it we see free time as time to get shit done.
I saw this "busy busy" in myself when I knew I was in need of rest and said yes anyway when asked to do something that pushed me past the limits of exhaustion. I easily collapsed my boundaries like it was, yep no big deal. At first glance it seems mysterious as to why we won't rest even in the face of time and opportunity. Truth is we don't know how. We say "Who's gonna do it, if I don't" is the Black Woman's mantra. We actually have several chants that keep us unrested: "I can't afford to take time off" "I don't need nobody" "No one does it like I do it" "I love to give, I'm a Giver" "I didn't want to bother anyone" "It's quicker if I do it" "It's not a big deal."
We need respite training first.
We need everything that we worry about that keeps us from rest we it resolved. We need a new mind about what rest is and how it is. My friend told me less than 48 hours ago that while in prayer, she's still thinking about work.
We're always on and it's unfair.
Rest is God's way of restoring us but we won't receive it because it is intrinsically linked to white supremacy and the colonization that is deep within us. Our unrest is linked to our unreceiving to our lack and limiting beliefs that was handed down. It is linked to our unabundance and our money story, to our giving to our worth and to our self love.
Rest was a privilege denied and now it is a necessity that we deny ourselves.
"Rest is always possible. Rest is your birthright. Rest is revolutionary. Rest is reparations." - BlackDreamEscape.com
This current reality appears to be diametrically opposed to the Restoration of Black Women because there is a system that benefits from our unhealed unrested selves. Every time we ignore our need for healing, rest and pleasure we score one for the other side.
In metaphysics anything we push against grows and so there is "no against" there is alignment to alleviate, we move with, not against. And so those of us who engaged in the centering of respite for Black women believe when rested Black Women can save the world, it is who Black Women are naturally and the medicine that she holds. It is not just Black Women who hold this view but those of us who believe this, have birthed a movement that holds space for the possibility of what the world would look like when Black Women are Rested #r4Blw.
...a movement that holds space for the possibility of what the world would look like when Black Women are Rested #r4Blw.
Would you please watch, like, subscribe and share this channel? and help score one for our side!
As a Black Woman Metaphysician my focus is to engage what is, what can be and to activate it.
We need a new realty and perhaps one has already been activated, a reality of No Name Newness where a group of muti-diverse frequencies consummated their energies one winter weekend and created space for the birthing of a #r4BlW Movement: rest4BlackWomen. This was triple points for our side and I am continuing to keep score!
I would like to complete by publicly expressing my heart felt gratitude:
Deep Gratitude to Anastasia Higginbotham
Deep Gratitude to ive Dear One
Deep Gratitude to the 9 and the 12
Deep Gratitude to Jake & Idy and the Opportunity Fund Team
Much Love + Blessings
Jill
P.S
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