Our Lady Of Sweet Rest
I play with several decks of oracle cards.
I use them for many reasons--
for writing inspiration,
for solace on hard days,
for focus, also on hard days
when I need reminders that I want to dare to trust more in my faith
than in my fears.
This month of January,
I had designated as my break, my sabbatical.
I decided I would begin my days with a Mother Mary oracle card
by Alana Fairchild.
(Her images are always so lovely
and her words are always so thoughtful and loving and kind,
and encouraging.)
And I decided I would do the meditation that accompanies each card.
They always feel like a prayer to me,
a loving embrace.
On January 2, I drew the card pictured--Our Lady of Sweet Rest.
Of course, I did! LOL
This was to be my month of rest.
And then stuff happened all. day. long.
(And then, beyond…but I’m getting ahead of myself.
That’s for a different day!")
Guess which card I drew the next morning?
Yep!
Our Lady of Sweet Rest.
It SO made me smile
because I am SUCH a good shuffler.
And so I rested.
Since those 2 days,
I have drawn Our Lady of Sweet Rest 2 times,
including today,
the day after I guided a beautiful retreat
for 6 beautiful women in celebration of one of their birthdays
and in celebration of each of them as they begin 2025!
Gong.
Bowls.
Preparation of my home, of food, of desserts (of course!), of restorative yoga props (I do enjoy doing restorative yoga in person in intimate groups!), curating the practices and the care package.
Reading their energies to feel which practices to offer them day-of (Sometimes, it doesn't include what I had thought it would!)
I have the habit of underestimating the energies it takes me to hold space for people.
So I'm always surprised
when the day or even days after a retreat,
I'm out of flow.
OR MAYBE...that IS the flow.
MAYBE, the flow flows into rest.
I've been a rest specialist for 20 years or so,
looking for,
curating and creating tiny ways and big ways
to help people soften in their daily life
so they can have more energy to live
and LOVE their life.
This means I KNOW the rest IS part of the flow….
and that I’ve been in (and out of)
rest practices of my own
for all these years...
(The “in and out” is because...
I'm human!)
They all count, you know.
The tiniest practices--like softening my hands on the steering wheel as I drive--
to setting myself up in and resting in a restorative pose for 35 minutes...or more!
They count...
because WE count.
And so,
I offer you these two opportunities to invite rest into your life.
(The price has just been dropped by $300 because we realized that we had rented space that we didn't need!)
September 7-13 in St. Jeannet, France
I'll be taking you back to Frogs' House for the 2025 version of Serenity in the South of France. 1000 Euros OFF the cost through January 31, 2025 (only 14 more days!)
We undervalue rest and we think we need to earn rest.
WE. DO. NOT. NEED. TO. EARN. REST.
Our default in our nervous system is our parasympathetic nervous system--the rest and digest aspect of our central nervous system.
You'd think--the way we live so hurriedly, the way everything around us is in constant movement, the way we get carried away by all this frenetic activity...You'd think that our default was fight or flight or freeze.
But NO. Our default is resting and digesting.
We COULD be like the cows in field who get startled,
stop what they're doing,
lift their heads to look around,
see there is no danger,
and then GO BACK TO WHAT THEY WERE DOING.
We COULD be. We CAN be.
We just need to give ouselves more grace and space to learn to do this.
Let one (or both!) of these retreats
be YOUR space this year.
Grant yourself the grace of being beautifully human and join me to rest,
to savor the beauty and the serenity of the South of France, the ease of summer in Wisconsin...or if all you're able to do today is DREAM of doing that? Then go sit in a chair and lean back and breath and dream.
Go. Rest.
All that you do,
do it with joy!
Blessings Always,
Paula.
