August 27, 2025 • 37 mins
In this episode of Health, Healing, and Hope, Natiki Hope Pressley explores the powerful connection between rest and resilience. Rest is more than just sleep—it’s a radical act of resistance in a world that constantly demands more of us. Through stories, examples from nature, and reflections on the deeper meaning of rest, Natiki invites listeners to reclaim rest as a pathway to healing, renewal, and strength. This episode offers practical ways to integrate intentional rest into daily life while affirming the importance of slowing down to rise stronger.
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Episode Transcript
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Natiki (00:02):
Hello, and welcome to Health Healing and Hope.
I'm your host, Natiki HopePresley.
Thank you for being here.
There are so many other placesthat you could be, but you chose
to spend your time with me.
I'm so grateful for that.
Today we're talking about a fourletter word, something that we
don't often discuss, perhapsbecause we don't understand it
(00:25):
or.
It makes us uncomfortable ormaybe because we don't get
enough of it.
That's right.
You're right.
We're talking about rest.
The title of today's episode isRest and Resistance.
Rest and Resistance.
Here's a question.
In a culture that glorifies thehustle and busyness, how do you
(00:49):
find time to rest?
I know resting iscountercultural and can
therefore be considered almostlike an act of courage and
resistance.
Participating in thiscapitalistic system in the
United States demands that weconstantly focus on our output.
Performance is everything.
How productive are we today?
(01:09):
How much busy work is on mycalendar?
How far up the ladder have Iclimbed and am I achieving all
my goals daily, weekly, ormonthly goals?
Ambition and discipline are notreally our issue, right?
Because a lot of us have lots ofambition.
We're highly motivated and wecan schedule some stuff like
(01:30):
nobody's business, but that'snot the issue.
It's when they're at the expenseof our health and wellbeing.
That's the problem.
There's nothing wrong with.
Having things to do, schedulingthose things and organizing them
in a way that works for you.
(01:52):
But when you've overscheduledeverything because you believe,
the more you get done is somehowa measure of your worth or your
value to the world, it begins tocompromise your health and
wellbeing overall.
Rest is a great way to resist.
(02:15):
It's a great way to resist, andit's not just from the system
that's designed to oppress andoverwork us, but from the
physical enemies of things likestress and fatigue and chronic
illness and so many otherthings.
It helps to build up ourdefenses.
It helps to keep our immunesystem healthy and vigorous and
(02:37):
fighting because there'sconstantly things that are
attacking us that we can't evensee.
And I know it's strange to speakof rest as courageous or even
revolutionary, but that's whatit's become.
It's something we just don'twanna talk about.
And if you talk about it or yousay you rest too much, or you
talk about how much you getrest, it's taboo.
(02:59):
Because everybody doesn't wannaknow about how much you rest.
They wanna know about how muchwork you doing, what you working
on, what's the next project.
Rest has become, I dare say,controversial, especially when
society suggests that it'ssomehow optional.
Rest is not optional.
It is not a, maybe it's a must.
(03:23):
And sometimes rest is spokenabout, like it's indulgent like
it's a piece of cake orchocolate.
But let me say this, if restwere chocolate or cake, I am
absolutely sure we would getplenty of it.
Most of us would definitely haveour fair share of rest.
They would be slicing it up andbuying it and eating it in
(03:45):
little cubes.
But now I know when we speakabout rest, you're probably
saying, oh, taking a nap is notcourageous, Natiki, there's
nothing brave about going tosleep.
But when I say rest, I'm nottalking about sleep.
Sleep is a form of rest.
You can sleep and not experiencerest, or what we would call
(04:09):
restful sleep.
I know I'm not the only one whohas been tired after sleeping
all night.
You could wake up tired and say,you know what?
I don't even know if I slept.
What was I doing?
Karate or Pilates in my sleep?
I don't even remember.
You have those bags and yourbody feels sluggish and you
(04:30):
really just want to go back tosleep.
Rest is defined according todictionary.com.
That's just one definition Ifound.
I'm gonna read that.
It's like refreshing ease orinactivity after exertion or
labor or relief or freedom,especially from anything that
wearies troubles or disturbs.
(04:53):
You heard that Relief orfreedom, especially from
anything that wearies troublesor disturbs.
In that case, we all need rest,especially in this climate that
we're living in today.
I would say rest is restorative,right?
(05:13):
It's a restorative experience.
The word rest, and I'm readingthis carries ancient roots
that's tied to stillness,stopping and peace.
It's Germanic and old EnglishOrigins show that from the very
beginning, humans understoodrest, not only as physical
(05:34):
relaxation, but also a state ofthe soul to be.
At rest, quote unquote, right?
Tranquility, wholeness, and ofcourse, final peace or a final
resting place.
So why are we talking aboutrest?
Why does it even matter?
What are we talking about?
Let's start from the beginning.
(05:55):
In the book of Genesis, Godcreated the heavens, the earth,
and all living things in sixdays, and then he rested on the
seventh day.
This is where we get the restprinciple, the Sabbath.
This principle was applied tomany things.
;Rest is apparent in nature andall of creation.
(06:16):
Rest is one of those principlesthat is quietly woven into all
aspects of our lives without useven realizing it.
For instance, our heartbeat,your heart contracts and
releases right these beats andwithout rest in between.
There is no life.
(06:37):
If your heart was constantlyracing it means that you're in
trouble.
Your body has some kind oftrauma and it's inefficient.
It's working too hard to pumpblood through your body and it's
overexerting.
In fact, we measure our fitness,our fit level by our resting
(06:59):
heart rate, meaning the lesswork my heart has to do to
provide those certain functionsthat I have in my body.
So that my body can do the work,the more fit I am, the more
efficient my body is working.
(07:20):
Even in breathing, we breathe inand out.
That constant exhale or outflowor inhale, is the exchange
necessary.
There is a rest in between.
Or even soil farmers rotatecrops so they can let the land
(07:45):
rest to restore nutrients.
I can go on and on.
I'm sure there's more.
There's also music.
I forgot about that.
Musical notes.
There's a rest in music.
I'm not a musician and I don'tnecessarily read music a little
bit.
But I remember from the time Iwas young and was learning a
(08:07):
little bit about music there wasrest in between these notes.
But without it, it's just noise.
It's just constant sound therest helps you distinguish these
different sounds and tones.
But let's do the math.
Okay, so we said that.
God created the heavens and theearth and all living things in
(08:29):
six days, and on the seventh dayhe rested.
So six days out of the seven heworked, six, he rested one.
So that's a formula, right?
So if we would apply that toinstead of a week, if we apply
that to our days, how much timewould we be expected to rest if
we would do it the way that Goddid?
(08:51):
I did the math y'all in advance.
I did not do it in my head.
Okay.
Three hours and 25 minutes ofrest per day.
And you're saying, okay, Natiki,now you, that's it.
You lost me.
I'm going to click off rightnow.
Please don't hear me out.
And I know you're saying Icannot rest for three hours and
20 minutes a day.
(09:12):
That's not gonna happen.
You know how much stuff I gottaget done in a day?
I don't have enough time in aday, and you want me to take
time outta the day?
Three hours and 25 minutes ofit, slow down.
That's not necessarily what I'msaying.
I'm not saying to take away fromyour day.
I'm actually saying add to yourday.
(09:34):
Okay.
I know.
I was looking at this book byDr.
Sandra Dalton Smith.
The book is called Sacred Rest,and in that book she mentions
seven types of rest.
And this is beyond sleep,because I know as soon as we say
rest, we assume sleep.
But there are different types ofrest.
(09:56):
And she lists those as numberone, physical rest, right?
And that's the sleep that wetalk about.
But number two she says ismental rest.
Quieting an overactive mind, andsome of the practices was
stepping away from constantproblem solving, journaling our
thoughts and taking mentalbreaks during work, just
(10:19):
removing ourselves and havingsome quiet, getting some mental
rest, letting our mind rest.
Number three was emotional rest.
Being able to express your truefeelings without judgment.
That is my favorite one.
And some of the practices wastalking honestly with trusted
people, and we talked about thatin a previous episode.
Therapy, journaling ourfeelings, and something that I
(10:42):
mentioned in that previousepisode was a walk and talk
where I said I did somethingthat worked well for me.
Which was take my phone and justrecord, put my headphones in and
just audio journal withoutinterruption, without anybody's
commentary or judgment, and itwas really effective.
I was getting exercise bywalking and getting a chance to
(11:04):
emotionally rest by audiojournaling.
Number four she says, is socialrest.
Taking a break from drainingrelationships and spending time
with life.
Giving people life givingpeople, right?
How important is that?
(11:26):
Who you are around matters.
Okay?
Your health is not just yourphysical health.
Your mental health is importanttoo, and sometimes it's not.
Things that you think it may be,it just might be your
surroundings and you're notaround life giving people, and
(11:46):
it can be draining to be aroundthe opposite, what we would call
life taking people.
Some of those practices shementioned is setting boundaries
and choosing nourishingconnections.
Number Five was sensory rest,which is reducing input from
screens, noise, bright lightsand clutter.
(12:08):
Okay, we gotta pause because forme, clutter is a big one.
And until I saw this, I thoughtthere was something I wrong with
me.
I don't know, like maybe, but Irealized that it's sensory
overload when I see clutter.
I don't just see, oh, there'slots of stuff here and I'm just
gonna go ahead and move on andwalk by it.
(12:28):
I'm overloaded by all the thingsI'm looking at And there's too
many things to see, and I needto scale it down and modify it
so that I'm not overloaded interms of my visual sense.
And I thought that was superinteresting and sometimes you
just have to know that's anissue for you so that you can
(12:49):
address that.
Number six was creative rest,recharging the part of us that
solves problems and dreams,right?
Practices that she mentioned wasexposure to art, right?
Nature, music, creative play, orsimply allowing wonder and we
don't recognize how important.
(13:11):
Creative rest is because we arecreated to be creative and when
we're not able to create, andI'm not saying that you sow and
you draw and all those thingsbecause there are other ways to
be creative.
Everybody is creative.
We were all made to create.
(13:31):
Okay.
Not just reproduce.
But to create.
And so when we don't have anoutlet or we haven't recharged
that part of us that is creativeand that creates, we definitely
feel exhausted.
There is some exhaustion thatcan come in that area.
So I wanted to make sure topoint that out because a lot of
(13:53):
people don't think about that.
Spiritual rest was number seven,connection to God purpose and
something greater thanyourselves.
Mandatory.
Some of the practices shementioned is Prayer, meditation,
worship, reflection onscripture, and some other
practices of just quietingourselves and just tuning in to
(14:17):
God.
I was incredibly grateful forthe outline of.
The types of rest because Ididn't know this before.
Now, doing this research andlearning that I knew how
important rest was, but Ihonestly can say I did not
understand the different typesof rest that we need.
(14:43):
So some of the key insights thatI got from this was about
exhaustion, and she says,exhaustion is multi-dimensional.
Most people think of fatigue Ineed more sleep, right?
I'm tired, I'm over it.
I just need to take a nap.
And sometimes that is you justneed to shut down and reset.
But in reality, you probably areexperiencing what.
(15:05):
She mentions here as restdeficit in one or more of those
seven areas of physical, mental,emotional, social, sensory,
creative, and spiritual areasthat need rest.
So let me ask you a question.
Where are you deficient?
What areas of those seven do youneed more rest?
(15:32):
Because getting sleep is notdoing it because like I said,
you can wake up and still betired, but I believe exhaustion
also comes.
When we haven't fully evaluatedour efforts, this is something
that's personal for me becausewe can exhaust ourselves doing
(15:53):
something that isn't getting uscloser to our desired goals.
Or we could exhaust ourselves bydoing something that's adding to
us, but it's taking things away.
And so we find ourselvesdepleted.
Let me give you an example.
For so many years I was workingin schools.
I worked in high school and Ispent a lot of time in schools.
(16:18):
And I know a lot of people say,oh, you work in schools, that's
great'cause you get out at threeo'clock.
No, the students get out atthree o'clock.
Work doesn't stop at three forthe people who work there.
Work continues after thestudents leave, but you get
there early, whatever, beforeseven and and I would leave
sometimes around six o'clocklet's say.
(16:40):
And then I would go ahead andwhatever mode of transportation
I chose for that day, sometimesit's the train and sometimes
it's driving, depending on whatmy responsibilities were after.
So I get home maybe about seven,eight, I don't know, seven 30.
I'm gonna give it seven 30.
(17:00):
And of course when I got home Iwould just try to relax and get
a little bite to eat and try tojust just sit and relax for a
second, decompress.
And that could be maybe about, Idon't know, 8 30, 9 o'clock, and
at that point just preparing togo ahead and go to bed and then
(17:21):
do it all over again.
Now let me say this, I loved myjob.
I love working with youngpeople.
It is extremely fulfilling.
I love to see them grow andmature and become, and there's
something very wonderful aboutbeing a part of that process and
(17:42):
knowing that I've contributed ina good way to that process and
then seeing them become whoeverGod has them to become and
knowing that I did a little bitof that, I am a reason for some
of that, but.
What I noticed after doing thatfor many years was that I was
(18:04):
starting to get depleted.
I wasn't getting enough in, Iwasn't being able to pour enough
time in.
My resting time was limited andit led me to the hospital.
I ended up in the hospital.
And I'm not saying that if youhave a job that is demanding
that you're gonna end up in thehospital.
I am not saying that.
(18:24):
I am saying, for me, doing thisjob for many years, eventually
it just became too much becauseI couldn't find a way.
And time to rest the way Ineeded to.
In all those seven areas, I wasgetting some of that rest.
I know there were some areasprobably getting more than
(18:45):
others, but I wasn't able tofind balance and I paid a heavy
price for it.
But upon further evaluation, Irealized that a big part of that
was I was able to contribute andsupport.
Students, and families in a waythat I wasn't able to for my own
(19:10):
daughter.
I was helping other people'schildren and couldn't really
support mine the way I wanted tobecause I didn't have the time
and that was taking a toll onme.
Helping other people's familiesis great, but when I can't help
my own, the way I'm helpingother people's family, it's
difficult.
(19:31):
I didn't have the understandingabout rest at that time, but I'm
trying to help you understandthat when you're not getting
rest, it will impact your healthin one way or another, whether
it's your physical health, yourmental health.
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Spiritual health, it will havean impact.
There will be a deficitsomewhere.
Rest is not a luxury.
I know.
We make it sound like that.
We treat it like it's indulgent,like I said, like it's a piece
(20:14):
of cake or a piece of candy.
It is not.
Dr.
Dalton Smith argues that it's asvital as food and water for
health and healing.
So when you're not getting amplerest, it's like when you're not
getting ample food, it has animpact.
(20:35):
Your energy becomes low, right?
You have nutritional deficits.
Not getting any water, it'syou're not getting hydration.
You become dehydrated, and thatcauses other issues in your
life.
Your mental health is affectedby dehydration.
(20:58):
Circulation is affected.
Rest is the stewardship of ourbody that God gave us.
We need to give our bodies whatit needs besides just food and
water.
Our bodies also need rest andnot just our bodies.
Rest is also resistance againstburnout and against physical
(21:19):
ailments, right?
Your body operates much betterwhen.
It gets rest.
Your immune system defensesdepend on you getting rest, and
that's specifically physicalrest as well, because when you
(21:39):
sleep, a lot of things happenwhile you're sleeping.
Regeneration of cells And awhole lot of things are
happening internally while wesleep.
And your body needs an amplesupply of that to do its job.
The rest is also sacred.
Rest is an act of trust.
(22:00):
Sometimes when we just say, I'mgonna take a break, I'm gonna
step away.
I'm saying, I trust that God gotthis.
I don't have to exert all thisenergy because we can't make
anything happen in and ofitself.
I can't make you like me.
I can't make you listen to thispodcast.
I can't make.
(22:22):
Someone give me a job.
You can't make your boss giveyou the promotion.
Obviously there's things youneed to do.
There's a part that you play inthat.
But you can't make it happen.
I can plant a seed.
I can't make it grow.
(22:44):
There are factors that I have nocontrol over.
I can't control how muchsunlight or rain.
I can't control what happensunderneath the soil.
So my role is limited And when Irecognize that, then I can rest.
(23:10):
The farmer plans the seed.
I don't think he plans the seedand stares at it all day.
Eventually you gotta take a nap,you gotta go to sleep, you gotta
go take care of other things.
But rest also restores ourability to pour into other
people.
Remember, you can't give from anempty cup Sometimes our
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frustration and why I'm feelingthe way I'm feeling, it's not
because of anything that wethink it might be.
Sometimes it's just that we arejust not putting enough in.
You can't pour out what hasn'tbeen poured in.
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If I'm not replenishing, Icannot give The soil can't give
nutrients without beingreplenished, and we're trying to
do things from an empty cup, andwe're kicking the dog and
yelling at the goldfish.
(24:19):
Not because the dog didanything, or the goldfish is
doing anything because we justare depleted, we're empty.
There's good news here people.
The good news is we're gonnatalk about some rest strategies
here.
(24:39):
What are some of the ways thatwe can get rest?
In the opening, I asked you, howdo you get rest?
How do you find time to rest?
Because I know many of you, likeme, would say, I don't have time
to do what you're talking about.
You want me to take a walk inthe park and stop and journal
all those things?
I don't have the time.
(25:01):
I'm gonna say to you, do youmake time for you?
You have the time.
You just don't take the time.
Maybe the issue is not that youdon't have the time, it's that
(25:22):
you spend too much time onthings you shouldn't be spending
time on and not enough time onthe things you should.
That's for me too.
What am I spending my time on?
Because when we did the math, wesaid there's three hours and 25
minutes, right?
According to that divine restprinciple that we were talking
(25:45):
about earlier.
Do I have three hours and 25minutes?
I know.
Like I said, you don't get madat me if you're still listening.
Thank you for sticking with me,but if you can take time.
To take a walk for an hour.
Okay.
Walk and talk Or just a walk.
(26:06):
Or just a walk around the block.
Whatever walk you can do.
That's an hour.
I.
You're getting a chance to getsome exercise and some movement.
That's also some mental rest.
You get some time to justjournal or audio journal if
you're doing a walk and talk andor just quiet your mind.
Maybe you also put your phoneaway and you're not talking on
(26:29):
the phone or looking at emailsand checking your texts and
looking at your social media.
Maybe that hour is just aboutthe walk.
Enjoying nature, enjoying thatquiet time, spending time with
you.
Okay, so that's an hour.
Maybe you spend 25 minutes onyour way home from work or from
(26:53):
wherever you have to travelfrom.
And you do some meditativethings during those 25 minutes,
instead of just yelling atpeople through your car window
or being upset with the trafficand talking on the phone to
people trying to catch up withquick conversations or, texting
(27:15):
and driving what you're notsupposed to you.
So maybe you use the thoseminutes too.
Do something else.
Listen to a podcast or tosomething that's soothing,
something that relaxes you,something that helps to quiet
and give you some calm andtranquility.
(27:37):
Okay, that's another 25 minutes.
All right, we're narrowing itdown.
Or maybe before you go to bed,you have some quiet time for
your scripture.
Reading a prayer That's anotherhour.
(27:57):
It's possible you can do this,and it doesn't have to be, of
course, the three hours and 25minutes.
That was just an example becauseI wanna set a standard for you.
Maybe you can't do three hoursand 25 minutes, but you can do
two hours.
But I wanted to help you and bepractical so I wanted to map
something out for you, but oobviously you need to do this
(28:19):
for yourself.
You need to map something outfor you, something that's gonna
work for your schedule and foryour lifestyle.
Yeah.
Rest, food and water andexercise and all these things
are part of what we are callinglifestyle medicine.
(28:39):
That's something that's beentalked about a lot lately.
It's not new.
It's just been given a name.
Because holistic medicine hasbeen around for a very long
time, and it's very similar inthat it speaks about the whole
person.
Because if you're dealing with ahealth challenge right now and
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you're going through something,whether it is physical, mental,
or you're dealing with sometrauma, grief, or other things
that you're healing from.
You need to incorporate rest aspart of your health strategy,
your healing strategy.
(29:24):
It's not just changing yourdiet, not eating this, and
eating more of that.
That is important and it's notjust exercise and moving, which
is important too, and we'll talkabout that next week.
The next episode is Move It orLose It.
Movement is very important foryour health, that it's not just
(29:46):
that, and of course it's notjust staying hydrated, which is
important too, but rest.
Rest.
Why is it so hard for us torest?
I know I talked about that alittle bit, I used to feel bad,
like if I try to steal away orstep aside and have some time
(30:07):
for me, I feel like I could bedoing something else with that
time.
I fall behind I, everybody'sdoing something and I'm over
here doing this.
Rest is an investment inclarity, healing, and long-term
(30:30):
perseverance.
You need to be able to have along game here.
Health is not a short game.
It's not just a little goal.
I just wanna lose weight, whichis great, but losing weight is
not the only thing that you needto do to improve your health.
(30:55):
There are lots of other areas ofour lives that we need to
address that are just asimportant.
And if you don't find time foryou, who will?
If you don't make time for restand all those things that you
need to be healthy, who's gonnado it?
(31:16):
Who are you waiting on to do it?
Rest is resistance.
Because it reclaims power overour bodies, minds and spirit.
(31:40):
But rest also can be resistantto some of those things we
talked about.
Stress fatigue, exhaustion,chronic illness.
When our bodies rest, we haverestoration that happens on the
inside.
(32:01):
And like I mentioned, we're ableto fight against some of those
things that are trying to fightagainst us.
Things we can't even see, catcha cold or whatever it is because
your immune system is notoperating effectively.
Rest will help with that.
Diet, of course, will also help.
(32:22):
You have to have the rightnutrients, but rest is
definitely part of the formula.
rest is your right.
(32:43):
Rest is the way that you resist.
Against, stress, fatigue and allthose things that could
potentially harm you.
But rest is also how you fightagainst exhaustion, mental
exhaustion, emotionalexhaustion, physical exhaustion.
(33:05):
Spiritual exhaustion, all thoseseven areas that we mentioned
earlier.
I hope you enjoy your time withme.
I'm hoping you feel like it wasa good way to invest your time.
As I've mentioned before, I'm ahealing expert, and my approach
(33:29):
is simple.
It's something that was giftedto me, it's called the Grace
approach.
It is an acronym, G-R-A-C-E-G isfor guidance.
That is divine guidance andguidance by wisdom and research
r is for reflection.
A is affirmation, C for clarity,and E is encouragement.
(33:54):
I will always offer you all ofthose things.
I will always provide grace.
I.
I'll give you guidance that waseither given to me by God or
guidance that was I've gottenfrom research and wisdom.
I'll always offer you areflection, an opportunity to
look on the inside to see what'sgoing on.
(34:15):
I'll always offer youaffirmation, a way to affirm
you, to clearly identify withwhat's true.
And I'll also provide clarity.
I'll make sure that we'retalking about things in a way
that is helpful to you, and I'llalways give you encouragement.
(34:40):
I know you can do this.
I'll never offer you somethingand say, I don't know if you're
gonna be able to do this I'malways gonna say, this is how it
could get done.
Here's some suggestions, and Iencourage you, of course, to
seek out more ways to improveyour health.
And of course, share thosethings with us.
Share them with your community.
(35:01):
I'd love to hear from you.
I wanna thank you again forjoining me today, and I'm gonna
leave you of course, with areflection in case you didn't
get a chance to write it down.
(35:23):
What areas of your life aredeficient?
Are you getting enough rest?
What areas do you need to getmore rest in?
Map out your day and find a wayto add rest and make sure you
identify what kind of rest i'mgonna do a walk and talk, during
(35:46):
my lunch hour or I'm gonna do awalk and talk, early in the
morning before I leave for work.
Maybe it's audio journaling thatyou're doing while you're
walking and talking, and maybeyou're putting your phone away
and you're not answering emailsand you're not checking social
media and you're not, doinganything on your phone.
(36:07):
So you're getting some of thatsocial rest.
You're getting some things donein just a walk and talk.
So I encourage you to do thatand share it with me.
Let me know how it's going.
Rest is necessary.
Rest is going to help you gethealthy and feel better.
(36:33):
Remember we talked about restbetween notes in music.
Without rest, the music becomesnoise, but without rest in your
life, that also becomes justnoise.
It's the stillness that givesthe sound.
Its beauty and meaning.
Until next time, be well.
(36:55):
Be strong, be you.
Hello, and welcome to Health Healing and Hope.
I'm your host, Natiki HopePresley.
Thank you for being here.
There are so many other placesthat you could be, but you chose
to spend your time with me.
I'm so grateful for that.
Today we're talking about a fourletter word, something that we
don't often discuss, perhapsbecause we don't understand it
(00:25):
or.
It makes us uncomfortable ormaybe because we don't get
enough of it.
That's right.
You're right.
We're talking about rest.
The title of today's episode isRest and Resistance.
Rest and Resistance.
Here's a question.
In a culture that glorifies thehustle and busyness, how do you
(00:49):
find time to rest?
I know resting iscountercultural and can
therefore be considered almostlike an act of courage and
resistance.
Participating in thiscapitalistic system in the
United States demands that weconstantly focus on our output.
Performance is everything.
How productive are we today?
(01:09):
How much busy work is on mycalendar?
How far up the ladder have Iclimbed and am I achieving all
my goals daily, weekly, ormonthly goals?
Ambition and discipline are notreally our issue, right?
Because a lot of us have lots ofambition.
We're highly motivated and wecan schedule some stuff like
(01:30):
nobody's business, but that'snot the issue.
It's when they're at the expenseof our health and wellbeing.
That's the problem.
There's nothing wrong with.
Having things to do, schedulingthose things and organizing them
in a way that works for you.
(01:52):
But when you've overscheduledeverything because you believe,
the more you get done is somehowa measure of your worth or your
value to the world, it begins tocompromise your health and
wellbeing overall.
Rest is a great way to resist.
(02:15):
It's a great way to resist, andit's not just from the system
that's designed to oppress andoverwork us, but from the
physical enemies of things likestress and fatigue and chronic
illness and so many otherthings.
It helps to build up ourdefenses.
It helps to keep our immunesystem healthy and vigorous and
(02:37):
fighting because there'sconstantly things that are
attacking us that we can't evensee.
And I know it's strange to speakof rest as courageous or even
revolutionary, but that's whatit's become.
It's something we just don'twanna talk about.
And if you talk about it or yousay you rest too much, or you
talk about how much you getrest, it's taboo.
(02:59):
Because everybody doesn't wannaknow about how much you rest.
They wanna know about how muchwork you doing, what you working
on, what's the next project.
Rest has become, I dare say,controversial, especially when
society suggests that it'ssomehow optional.
Rest is not optional.
It is not a, maybe it's a must.
(03:23):
And sometimes rest is spokenabout, like it's indulgent like
it's a piece of cake orchocolate.
But let me say this, if restwere chocolate or cake, I am
absolutely sure we would getplenty of it.
Most of us would definitely haveour fair share of rest.
They would be slicing it up andbuying it and eating it in
(03:45):
little cubes.
But now I know when we speakabout rest, you're probably
saying, oh, taking a nap is notcourageous, Natiki, there's
nothing brave about going tosleep.
But when I say rest, I'm nottalking about sleep.
Sleep is a form of rest.
You can sleep and not experiencerest, or what we would call
(04:09):
restful sleep.
I know I'm not the only one whohas been tired after sleeping
all night.
You could wake up tired and say,you know what?
I don't even know if I slept.
What was I doing?
Karate or Pilates in my sleep?
I don't even remember.
You have those bags and yourbody feels sluggish and you
(04:30):
really just want to go back tosleep.
Rest is defined according todictionary.com.
That's just one definition Ifound.
I'm gonna read that.
It's like refreshing ease orinactivity after exertion or
labor or relief or freedom,especially from anything that
wearies troubles or disturbs.
(04:53):
You heard that Relief orfreedom, especially from
anything that wearies troublesor disturbs.
In that case, we all need rest,especially in this climate that
we're living in today.
I would say rest is restorative,right?
(05:13):
It's a restorative experience.
The word rest, and I'm readingthis carries ancient roots
that's tied to stillness,stopping and peace.
It's Germanic and old EnglishOrigins show that from the very
beginning, humans understoodrest, not only as physical
(05:34):
relaxation, but also a state ofthe soul to be.
At rest, quote unquote, right?
Tranquility, wholeness, and ofcourse, final peace or a final
resting place.
So why are we talking aboutrest?
Why does it even matter?
What are we talking about?
Let's start from the beginning.
(05:55):
In the book of Genesis, Godcreated the heavens, the earth,
and all living things in sixdays, and then he rested on the
seventh day.
This is where we get the restprinciple, the Sabbath.
This principle was applied tomany things.
;Rest is apparent in nature andall of creation.
(06:16):
Rest is one of those principlesthat is quietly woven into all
aspects of our lives without useven realizing it.
For instance, our heartbeat,your heart contracts and
releases right these beats andwithout rest in between.
There is no life.
(06:37):
If your heart was constantlyracing it means that you're in
trouble.
Your body has some kind oftrauma and it's inefficient.
It's working too hard to pumpblood through your body and it's
overexerting.
In fact, we measure our fitness,our fit level by our resting
(06:59):
heart rate, meaning the lesswork my heart has to do to
provide those certain functionsthat I have in my body.
So that my body can do the work,the more fit I am, the more
efficient my body is working.
(07:20):
Even in breathing, we breathe inand out.
That constant exhale or outflowor inhale, is the exchange
necessary.
There is a rest in between.
Or even soil farmers rotatecrops so they can let the land
(07:45):
rest to restore nutrients.
I can go on and on.
I'm sure there's more.
There's also music.
I forgot about that.
Musical notes.
There's a rest in music.
I'm not a musician and I don'tnecessarily read music a little
bit.
But I remember from the time Iwas young and was learning a
(08:07):
little bit about music there wasrest in between these notes.
But without it, it's just noise.
It's just constant sound therest helps you distinguish these
different sounds and tones.
But let's do the math.
Okay, so we said that.
God created the heavens and theearth and all living things in
(08:29):
six days, and on the seventh dayhe rested.
So six days out of the seven heworked, six, he rested one.
So that's a formula, right?
So if we would apply that toinstead of a week, if we apply
that to our days, how much timewould we be expected to rest if
we would do it the way that Goddid?
(08:51):
I did the math y'all in advance.
I did not do it in my head.
Okay.
Three hours and 25 minutes ofrest per day.
And you're saying, okay, Natiki,now you, that's it.
You lost me.
I'm going to click off rightnow.
Please don't hear me out.
And I know you're saying Icannot rest for three hours and
20 minutes a day.
(09:12):
That's not gonna happen.
You know how much stuff I gottaget done in a day?
I don't have enough time in aday, and you want me to take
time outta the day?
Three hours and 25 minutes ofit, slow down.
That's not necessarily what I'msaying.
I'm not saying to take away fromyour day.
I'm actually saying add to yourday.
(09:34):
Okay.
I know.
I was looking at this book byDr.
Sandra Dalton Smith.
The book is called Sacred Rest,and in that book she mentions
seven types of rest.
And this is beyond sleep,because I know as soon as we say
rest, we assume sleep.
But there are different types ofrest.
(09:56):
And she lists those as numberone, physical rest, right?
And that's the sleep that wetalk about.
But number two she says ismental rest.
Quieting an overactive mind, andsome of the practices was
stepping away from constantproblem solving, journaling our
thoughts and taking mentalbreaks during work, just
(10:19):
removing ourselves and havingsome quiet, getting some mental
rest, letting our mind rest.
Number three was emotional rest.
Being able to express your truefeelings without judgment.
That is my favorite one.
And some of the practices wastalking honestly with trusted
people, and we talked about thatin a previous episode.
Therapy, journaling ourfeelings, and something that I
(10:42):
mentioned in that previousepisode was a walk and talk
where I said I did somethingthat worked well for me.
Which was take my phone and justrecord, put my headphones in and
just audio journal withoutinterruption, without anybody's
commentary or judgment, and itwas really effective.
I was getting exercise bywalking and getting a chance to
(11:04):
emotionally rest by audiojournaling.
Number four she says, is socialrest.
Taking a break from drainingrelationships and spending time
with life.
Giving people life givingpeople, right?
How important is that?
(11:26):
Who you are around matters.
Okay?
Your health is not just yourphysical health.
Your mental health is importanttoo, and sometimes it's not.
Things that you think it may be,it just might be your
surroundings and you're notaround life giving people, and
(11:46):
it can be draining to be aroundthe opposite, what we would call
life taking people.
Some of those practices shementioned is setting boundaries
and choosing nourishingconnections.
Number Five was sensory rest,which is reducing input from
screens, noise, bright lightsand clutter.
(12:08):
Okay, we gotta pause because forme, clutter is a big one.
And until I saw this, I thoughtthere was something I wrong with
me.
I don't know, like maybe, but Irealized that it's sensory
overload when I see clutter.
I don't just see, oh, there'slots of stuff here and I'm just
gonna go ahead and move on andwalk by it.
(12:28):
I'm overloaded by all the thingsI'm looking at And there's too
many things to see, and I needto scale it down and modify it
so that I'm not overloaded interms of my visual sense.
And I thought that was superinteresting and sometimes you
just have to know that's anissue for you so that you can
(12:49):
address that.
Number six was creative rest,recharging the part of us that
solves problems and dreams,right?
Practices that she mentioned wasexposure to art, right?
Nature, music, creative play, orsimply allowing wonder and we
don't recognize how important.
(13:11):
Creative rest is because we arecreated to be creative and when
we're not able to create, andI'm not saying that you sow and
you draw and all those thingsbecause there are other ways to
be creative.
Everybody is creative.
We were all made to create.
(13:31):
Okay.
Not just reproduce.
But to create.
And so when we don't have anoutlet or we haven't recharged
that part of us that is creativeand that creates, we definitely
feel exhausted.
There is some exhaustion thatcan come in that area.
So I wanted to make sure topoint that out because a lot of
(13:53):
people don't think about that.
Spiritual rest was number seven,connection to God purpose and
something greater thanyourselves.
Mandatory.
Some of the practices shementioned is Prayer, meditation,
worship, reflection onscripture, and some other
practices of just quietingourselves and just tuning in to
(14:17):
God.
I was incredibly grateful forthe outline of.
The types of rest because Ididn't know this before.
Now, doing this research andlearning that I knew how
important rest was, but Ihonestly can say I did not
understand the different typesof rest that we need.
(14:43):
So some of the key insights thatI got from this was about
exhaustion, and she says,exhaustion is multi-dimensional.
Most people think of fatigue Ineed more sleep, right?
I'm tired, I'm over it.
I just need to take a nap.
And sometimes that is you justneed to shut down and reset.
But in reality, you probably areexperiencing what.
(15:05):
She mentions here as restdeficit in one or more of those
seven areas of physical, mental,emotional, social, sensory,
creative, and spiritual areasthat need rest.
So let me ask you a question.
Where are you deficient?
What areas of those seven do youneed more rest?
(15:32):
Because getting sleep is notdoing it because like I said,
you can wake up and still betired, but I believe exhaustion
also comes.
When we haven't fully evaluatedour efforts, this is something
that's personal for me becausewe can exhaust ourselves doing
(15:53):
something that isn't getting uscloser to our desired goals.
Or we could exhaust ourselves bydoing something that's adding to
us, but it's taking things away.
And so we find ourselvesdepleted.
Let me give you an example.
For so many years I was workingin schools.
I worked in high school and Ispent a lot of time in schools.
(16:18):
And I know a lot of people say,oh, you work in schools, that's
great'cause you get out at threeo'clock.
No, the students get out atthree o'clock.
Work doesn't stop at three forthe people who work there.
Work continues after thestudents leave, but you get
there early, whatever, beforeseven and and I would leave
sometimes around six o'clocklet's say.
(16:40):
And then I would go ahead andwhatever mode of transportation
I chose for that day, sometimesit's the train and sometimes
it's driving, depending on whatmy responsibilities were after.
So I get home maybe about seven,eight, I don't know, seven 30.
I'm gonna give it seven 30.
(17:00):
And of course when I got home Iwould just try to relax and get
a little bite to eat and try tojust just sit and relax for a
second, decompress.
And that could be maybe about, Idon't know, 8 30, 9 o'clock, and
at that point just preparing togo ahead and go to bed and then
(17:21):
do it all over again.
Now let me say this, I loved myjob.
I love working with youngpeople.
It is extremely fulfilling.
I love to see them grow andmature and become, and there's
something very wonderful aboutbeing a part of that process and
(17:42):
knowing that I've contributed ina good way to that process and
then seeing them become whoeverGod has them to become and
knowing that I did a little bitof that, I am a reason for some
of that, but.
What I noticed after doing thatfor many years was that I was
(18:04):
starting to get depleted.
I wasn't getting enough in, Iwasn't being able to pour enough
time in.
My resting time was limited andit led me to the hospital.
I ended up in the hospital.
And I'm not saying that if youhave a job that is demanding
that you're gonna end up in thehospital.
I am not saying that.
(18:24):
I am saying, for me, doing thisjob for many years, eventually
it just became too much becauseI couldn't find a way.
And time to rest the way Ineeded to.
In all those seven areas, I wasgetting some of that rest.
I know there were some areasprobably getting more than
(18:45):
others, but I wasn't able tofind balance and I paid a heavy
price for it.
But upon further evaluation, Irealized that a big part of that
was I was able to contribute andsupport.
Students, and families in a waythat I wasn't able to for my own
(19:10):
daughter.
I was helping other people'schildren and couldn't really
support mine the way I wanted tobecause I didn't have the time
and that was taking a toll onme.
Helping other people's familiesis great, but when I can't help
my own, the way I'm helpingother people's family, it's
difficult.
(19:31):
I didn't have the understandingabout rest at that time, but I'm
trying to help you understandthat when you're not getting
rest, it will impact your healthin one way or another, whether
it's your physical health, yourmental health.
(19:53):
Spiritual health, it will havean impact.
There will be a deficitsomewhere.
Rest is not a luxury.
I know.
We make it sound like that.
We treat it like it's indulgent,like I said, like it's a piece
(20:14):
of cake or a piece of candy.
It is not.
Dr.
Dalton Smith argues that it's asvital as food and water for
health and healing.
So when you're not getting amplerest, it's like when you're not
getting ample food, it has animpact.
(20:35):
Your energy becomes low, right?
You have nutritional deficits.
Not getting any water, it'syou're not getting hydration.
You become dehydrated, and thatcauses other issues in your
life.
Your mental health is affectedby dehydration.
(20:58):
Circulation is affected.
Rest is the stewardship of ourbody that God gave us.
We need to give our bodies whatit needs besides just food and
water.
Our bodies also need rest andnot just our bodies.
Rest is also resistance againstburnout and against physical
(21:19):
ailments, right?
Your body operates much betterwhen.
It gets rest.
Your immune system defensesdepend on you getting rest, and
that's specifically physicalrest as well, because when you
(21:39):
sleep, a lot of things happenwhile you're sleeping.
Regeneration of cells And awhole lot of things are
happening internally while wesleep.
And your body needs an amplesupply of that to do its job.
The rest is also sacred.
Rest is an act of trust.
(22:00):
Sometimes when we just say, I'mgonna take a break, I'm gonna
step away.
I'm saying, I trust that God gotthis.
I don't have to exert all thisenergy because we can't make
anything happen in and ofitself.
I can't make you like me.
I can't make you listen to thispodcast.
I can't make.
(22:22):
Someone give me a job.
You can't make your boss giveyou the promotion.
Obviously there's things youneed to do.
There's a part that you play inthat.
But you can't make it happen.
I can plant a seed.
I can't make it grow.
(22:44):
There are factors that I have nocontrol over.
I can't control how muchsunlight or rain.
I can't control what happensunderneath the soil.
So my role is limited And when Irecognize that, then I can rest.
(23:10):
The farmer plans the seed.
I don't think he plans the seedand stares at it all day.
Eventually you gotta take a nap,you gotta go to sleep, you gotta
go take care of other things.
But rest also restores ourability to pour into other
people.
Remember, you can't give from anempty cup Sometimes our
(23:34):
frustration and why I'm feelingthe way I'm feeling, it's not
because of anything that wethink it might be.
Sometimes it's just that we arejust not putting enough in.
You can't pour out what hasn'tbeen poured in.
(23:57):
If I'm not replenishing, Icannot give The soil can't give
nutrients without beingreplenished, and we're trying to
do things from an empty cup, andwe're kicking the dog and
yelling at the goldfish.
(24:19):
Not because the dog didanything, or the goldfish is
doing anything because we justare depleted, we're empty.
There's good news here people.
The good news is we're gonnatalk about some rest strategies
here.
(24:39):
What are some of the ways thatwe can get rest?
In the opening, I asked you, howdo you get rest?
How do you find time to rest?
Because I know many of you, likeme, would say, I don't have time
to do what you're talking about.
You want me to take a walk inthe park and stop and journal
all those things?
I don't have the time.
(25:01):
I'm gonna say to you, do youmake time for you?
You have the time.
You just don't take the time.
Maybe the issue is not that youdon't have the time, it's that
(25:22):
you spend too much time onthings you shouldn't be spending
time on and not enough time onthe things you should.
That's for me too.
What am I spending my time on?
Because when we did the math, wesaid there's three hours and 25
minutes, right?
According to that divine restprinciple that we were talking
(25:45):
about earlier.
Do I have three hours and 25minutes?
I know.
Like I said, you don't get madat me if you're still listening.
Thank you for sticking with me,but if you can take time.
To take a walk for an hour.
Okay.
Walk and talk Or just a walk.
(26:06):
Or just a walk around the block.
Whatever walk you can do.
That's an hour.
I.
You're getting a chance to getsome exercise and some movement.
That's also some mental rest.
You get some time to justjournal or audio journal if
you're doing a walk and talk andor just quiet your mind.
Maybe you also put your phoneaway and you're not talking on
(26:29):
the phone or looking at emailsand checking your texts and
looking at your social media.
Maybe that hour is just aboutthe walk.
Enjoying nature, enjoying thatquiet time, spending time with
you.
Okay, so that's an hour.
Maybe you spend 25 minutes onyour way home from work or from
(26:53):
wherever you have to travelfrom.
And you do some meditativethings during those 25 minutes,
instead of just yelling atpeople through your car window
or being upset with the trafficand talking on the phone to
people trying to catch up withquick conversations or, texting
(27:15):
and driving what you're notsupposed to you.
So maybe you use the thoseminutes too.
Do something else.
Listen to a podcast or tosomething that's soothing,
something that relaxes you,something that helps to quiet
and give you some calm andtranquility.
(27:37):
Okay, that's another 25 minutes.
All right, we're narrowing itdown.
Or maybe before you go to bed,you have some quiet time for
your scripture.
Reading a prayer That's anotherhour.
(27:57):
It's possible you can do this,and it doesn't have to be, of
course, the three hours and 25minutes.
That was just an example becauseI wanna set a standard for you.
Maybe you can't do three hoursand 25 minutes, but you can do
two hours.
But I wanted to help you and bepractical so I wanted to map
something out for you, but oobviously you need to do this
(28:19):
for yourself.
You need to map something outfor you, something that's gonna
work for your schedule and foryour lifestyle.
Yeah.
Rest, food and water andexercise and all these things
are part of what we are callinglifestyle medicine.
(28:39):
That's something that's beentalked about a lot lately.
It's not new.
It's just been given a name.
Because holistic medicine hasbeen around for a very long
time, and it's very similar inthat it speaks about the whole
person.
Because if you're dealing with ahealth challenge right now and
(29:02):
you're going through something,whether it is physical, mental,
or you're dealing with sometrauma, grief, or other things
that you're healing from.
You need to incorporate rest aspart of your health strategy,
your healing strategy.
(29:24):
It's not just changing yourdiet, not eating this, and
eating more of that.
That is important and it's notjust exercise and moving, which
is important too, and we'll talkabout that next week.
The next episode is Move It orLose It.
Movement is very important foryour health, that it's not just
(29:46):
that, and of course it's notjust staying hydrated, which is
important too, but rest.
Rest.
Why is it so hard for us torest?
I know I talked about that alittle bit, I used to feel bad,
like if I try to steal away orstep aside and have some time
(30:07):
for me, I feel like I could bedoing something else with that
time.
I fall behind I, everybody'sdoing something and I'm over
here doing this.
Rest is an investment inclarity, healing, and long-term
(30:30):
perseverance.
You need to be able to have along game here.
Health is not a short game.
It's not just a little goal.
I just wanna lose weight, whichis great, but losing weight is
not the only thing that you needto do to improve your health.
(30:55):
There are lots of other areas ofour lives that we need to
address that are just asimportant.
And if you don't find time foryou, who will?
If you don't make time for restand all those things that you
need to be healthy, who's gonnado it?
(31:16):
Who are you waiting on to do it?
Rest is resistance.
Because it reclaims power overour bodies, minds and spirit.
(31:40):
But rest also can be resistantto some of those things we
talked about.
Stress fatigue, exhaustion,chronic illness.
When our bodies rest, we haverestoration that happens on the
inside.
(32:01):
And like I mentioned, we're ableto fight against some of those
things that are trying to fightagainst us.
Things we can't even see, catcha cold or whatever it is because
your immune system is notoperating effectively.
Rest will help with that.
Diet, of course, will also help.
(32:22):
You have to have the rightnutrients, but rest is
definitely part of the formula.
rest is your right.
(32:43):
Rest is the way that you resist.
Against, stress, fatigue and allthose things that could
potentially harm you.
But rest is also how you fightagainst exhaustion, mental
exhaustion, emotionalexhaustion, physical exhaustion.
(33:05):
Spiritual exhaustion, all thoseseven areas that we mentioned
earlier.
I hope you enjoy your time withme.
I'm hoping you feel like it wasa good way to invest your time.
As I've mentioned before, I'm ahealing expert, and my approach
(33:29):
is simple.
It's something that was giftedto me, it's called the Grace
approach.
It is an acronym, G-R-A-C-E-G isfor guidance.
That is divine guidance andguidance by wisdom and research
r is for reflection.
A is affirmation, C for clarity,and E is encouragement.
(33:54):
I will always offer you all ofthose things.
I will always provide grace.
I.
I'll give you guidance that waseither given to me by God or
guidance that was I've gottenfrom research and wisdom.
I'll always offer you areflection, an opportunity to
look on the inside to see what'sgoing on.
(34:15):
I'll always offer youaffirmation, a way to affirm
you, to clearly identify withwhat's true.
And I'll also provide clarity.
I'll make sure that we'retalking about things in a way
that is helpful to you, and I'llalways give you encouragement.
(34:40):
I know you can do this.
I'll never offer you somethingand say, I don't know if you're
gonna be able to do this I'malways gonna say, this is how it
could get done.
Here's some suggestions, and Iencourage you, of course, to
seek out more ways to improveyour health.
And of course, share thosethings with us.
Share them with your community.
(35:01):
I'd love to hear from you.
I wanna thank you again forjoining me today, and I'm gonna
leave you of course, with areflection in case you didn't
get a chance to write it down.
(35:23):
What areas of your life aredeficient?
Are you getting enough rest?
What areas do you need to getmore rest in?
Map out your day and find a wayto add rest and make sure you
identify what kind of rest i'mgonna do a walk and talk, during
(35:46):
my lunch hour or I'm gonna do awalk and talk, early in the
morning before I leave for work.
Maybe it's audio journaling thatyou're doing while you're
walking and talking, and maybeyou're putting your phone away
and you're not answering emailsand you're not checking social
media and you're not, doinganything on your phone.
(36:07):
So you're getting some of thatsocial rest.
You're getting some things donein just a walk and talk.
So I encourage you to do thatand share it with me.
Let me know how it's going.
Rest is necessary.
Rest is going to help you gethealthy and feel better.
(36:33):
Remember we talked about restbetween notes in music.
Without rest, the music becomesnoise, but without rest in your
life, that also becomes justnoise.
It's the stillness that givesthe sound.
Its beauty and meaning.
Until next time, be well.
(36:55):
Be strong, be you.
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