#thenapministry

[michaelchristophermorin]

This year I had the pleasure of putting a panel together with a group of people I truly admire, speaking about a topic that is deeply important to me. It was one of my favorite conversations I’ve listened to this year. I hope we can continue to speak about rest and what it means for us as filmmakers and humans. I can’t begin to thank @thenapministry for making this super fan’s dream Panel happen. Streaming now at slamdancechannel.com #slamdance #slamdance2023 #thenapministry https://www.instagram.com/p/CnyWAHhO5xj/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[trascapades]

🎨#ArtIsAWeapon Caption and image reposted from @thenapministry / art by Melanie G.S. Walby @lemaniegrace :

A study resource. Get into this. The website and information is brilliant. So necessary for us all to understand the ways this culture functions and our alignment with it. How we are all harmed by it in different ways. We uphold this. The “A sense of urgency” is one that I go back to often as I examine our “Rest is Resistance” framework.

“Applying the urgency of racial and social justice to our every day lives in ways that perpetuate power imbalance and disregard for our need to breathe and pause and reflect.”

Link is in bio for this extensive website under: “White Supremacy Culture Characteristics.” It will take slow study to deepen into the principles. Take your time. Turning off comments because you haven’t done the homework of actually spending time in the website and reading and journaling and resting in between to be pontificating yet. Go slow. Get off SOCIAL MEDIA platforms typing so much in these threads. We Will Rest!

Art by: @lemaniegrace

(follow Melanie’s page. Truly gifted artist)

Credit to all the authors of this work.

#RestIsResistance #WhiteSupremacy #TheNapMinistry

[queerauntie]

November Reads

November was a blast, I quit my toxic job and these books really helped me from falling into depression again. Before that job I had been unemployed since July and it was dark y'all. While we aren't fully out of that hole (summer, summer hurry up!) reading has been such a transformative way to heal from the misery I'd been feeling these past few years. Without further ado, November's novels:

Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle

Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey (Founder of The Nap Ministry)

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

Odd One Out by Nic Stone

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Black Girls Must Be Magic by Jayne Allen

Love Radio was a delight. The characters were so cute and well thought out, and their personalities were fun to see interact together, making them a perfect match! While it's a red flag to me when someone is so persistently pesuing someone, I am willing to call it a Doppler/Dahmer (a himym reference ifkyk) situation and lean in. I'm glad I did because Prince ended up being worth the leap of faith. Talk about someone who genuinely wants to show up for YOU, in any capacity they can. So many people (read men) feel like if they have feelings for a girl, the only way they can have a successful relationship is if it's a romantic and sexual one. FAKE concepts like "the friend zone" are their way of telling us they can't love us in any other capacity, because it's not about us, it's about the claiming of us. Prince loves Danielle and he isn't caught up with those ideas and he sees Danielle for who she is, an amazing young woman who's on her journey and deserving of love. Danielle goes through a gutting experience that she deals with throughout the story, and as she's not initially open to romance, Prince doesn't see that as rejection or a "chase" or "tease". He truly hears her and is happy to meet her where she needs and shows up the way a true friend would, which Dani definitely needs at this point. I loved this story, and even though I saw it at Target, it breaks through the Target Tear, I definitely Loved this book!

Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey is a book I've been highly anticipating! I've been following @TheNapMinistry on twitter for months now, her message is simple. Rest is not something we have to earn, we rest because it is our right. Her work centralizes Black People who've had their rest robbed for centuries, reminding them that rest and dreaming are key to liberation. This message extends to non-Black people as an introduction on how to start breaking down our cultural brainwashing and recognize how our complacency upholds capitalism, white supremacy, and patriarchy. When we prioritize resting over the never-ending machine that is American capitalism, we become a wrench instead of a cog. This book, right next to How We Show Up, go right on my required reading for friends and community. This book will also be read again, every time I need a reminder!

The next book on my list was the first major book I read this year, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. While almost all of the books before this were around 6-9 hours, Addie LaRue comes in at 17 hours! It was very intimidating, and I initially was reading the book wrong, I was looking for the rising action to begin and was zooming through the first half thinking it was merely world-building. I was wrong, it was all a part of the journey that Addie herself was on, figuring things out as she went and learning so many important lessons along the way. Once I understood that I needed to be a part of the story with Addie, not a ghost viewing from above, the story took hold of me fiercely and I was completely hypnotized by this world. It was a thrill ride to the end, trying to figure out where it could possibly end, and what solutions could we possibly come to. Another read again to simply be in that world again, and of course, to prep for the hinted-at sequel!

Odd One Out was a book that was recommended by my bestie, this is the book where I started to go "maybe I just don't like male characters..." because there was absolutely nothing Coop could do that I didn't take issue with! The author really had me in the first half because I was ready to fight him for not getting over his crush on a LESBIAN! But bestie told me to give good faith, and I held out hope. Spoiler alert it does not end in a polyamorous ending, I'll rip that bandaid right off for ya cause no one did for me. But the ending was satisfying and I guess if it's vaguely personal, I can't be mad someone got a happy ending!

Black Cake was a haunting and beautiful journey. I've talked about it more here, so please go read that, or better yet, just read Black Cake. It's definitely in my top 10 of the year, it was pulling on the heartstrings, keeping me on the edge, and immensely satisfied by the end. It was a novel I could trust, whether it was a happy or sad ending, you could feel the care and love the writer put into this novel, and it was beautiful to experience this story and I hope it continues to gain lots of attention, it deserves all the flowers!

A Darker Shade of Magic! Wow what an amazing story! This is my best friend's favorite book by their favorite author, so it was LONG overdue that I read this book! By God it was fan-fucking-tastic! It was another Schwab immersive world I couldn't get enough of. I was thrilled that there was an entire trilogy to enjoy, and even more, so that a second trilogy is in the works. I will be talking more about V.E. Schwab as an artist because she is just phenomenal and I am looking forward to reading more of her works this upcoming year!

Black Girls Must Be Magic was somehow better than it's predecessor, how many sequels can say that? But it absolutely felt like catching up with an old friend and I was beyond thrilled for her in this chapter of her life. Healing from the loss of her grandma, Tabi continues to face work struggles and personal problems. But she's been working on rebuilding her support system so she has her besties to confide in and work through those things with, instead of doing it on her own. I am so proud of the growth she's made in this journey, and I can't wait for the third book to come out. I have a few more thoughts about this series here, so enjoy!

I did it, I got through november! Stay tuned, December shall be posted within the next 2 hours!

Yearly Book Count: 23/??

[l3xistentialism]

4 OF SWORDS RX 🙏🏾 | It’s wild to think about how little rest our minds actually get. Between the constant blue light from the screens of our devices fucking with our circadian rhythm to work and life schedules squeezing our free time to its limit, we as a collective are spent. The Four of Swords is generally a card that encourages rest and deep mental contemplation, however its reversed state indicates that there are obstacles making that stillness difficult to come by. When it appears in our readings, it could be a prescriptive call to sit down before we get sat down by the Universe through injury or illness. We may need to sit in meditation & commune with our Ancestors to find answers to the questions we have, or may need to practice discernment when it comes to how we expend our mental and physical energy. Fours usually represent a sense of solidity; a grounding of the element of the suit. In this instance, we’re bringing Air down to Earth via the portals that are opened up through rest & meditation. I can’t help but think of Tricia Hershey’s pivotal work through @thenapministry when thinking on the Four of Swords Rx and how difficult it can actually be to reclaim our rest when we have been brought up in this capitalist, white supremacist system. The Four of Swords Rx asks us to reflect on the value of taking time to quiet the mind. The revelations therein result in Spirit-led action that aligns with our Higher selves.

Deck - Exotic Cancer

[sistazai]

“Rest is a meticulous love practice.” Tricia Hersey, Founder @thenapministry . . Happy Black Futures Month ❤️🖤💚 Happy Month Of Love! . . This month, I’m centring practices and rituals of Radical Love. If you’ve been one of my Patrons Of The Arts (in Patreon), you know I’m a huge fan of poet, performance artist, archivist and founder of The Nap Ministry. . . Tricia Hersey really got me when she wrote that oppression not only steals our freedom but it also steals our imagination. As a result we forget how to fully escape the systems that oppress us and steal our freedom. Rest is a portal. It allows us to momentarily escape fuckshit reality as we commune with our truest selves to make more humane choices or escape plans so we don’t keep making choices that keep these systems intact. Rest supports us to love consciously, intentionally and deeply rooted in our humanity. For me, rest is all about building in a necessary three minute or thirty minute pause as part of my busy day. Yes, my days are hectic. It’s not a joke. I juggle a few things. So my mind is constantly active. When I invite stillness or rest into a busy day or a frantic moment, magic happens. It’s as simple as returning to my breath - noticing my inhale and exhale while making sure I’m breathing deep into my belly. I learned it first in Kemetic Yoga as “Rule Of Four” breathing. Then in Indian Yoga as “Pranayama”. Intentional breathing is such a beautiful way to stay present in the moment, to regulate my nervous system and stay in touch with my humanity. Listen, it’s a PRACTICE, which means I’m a beautifully perfect work in progress. I’m learning how to love, how to rest and stay tapped into my imagination. . . What’s your go-to rest or love practice for staying calm and rooted in your values under pressure? Please let me know in the comments, like, share, save and tag a beloved. . . Create a beautiful day, my loves! https://www.instagram.com/p/CpE1CI6Lnju/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[thedirtbagdad]

Years ago, in another lifetime, when I worked in the bubble of technology start-ups, the prevailing marketing mantra was something to the effect of, “Our product helps you get more done in less time!“ At the time, something intuitively struck me as being off with this thinking. My younger contrarian and ironic self created a new phrase, “I don’t want to do more in less time… I want to do less in more time.” Decades later, this impression resonates more than ever. Increasingly, people are realizing, in light of recent global events, that red-lining it throughout a lifetime ultimately exhausts you and, unchecked, may prematurely wear out your engine. “I’ll rest when I’m dead” accomplishes the final “to-do” item (death), yet does not allow one to ever accomplish rest. When rest is made a low priority and seen as a weakness and a lacking, well… our lives have a way of manifesting that. #grindculture #triciahersey #prioritizerest #balance #wholebodyhealth @thenapministry https://www.instagram.com/p/Cnc2u-1SV_kxPgMmdHBOmd2TjltP3Xe7K8QSsI0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[girlfriendontherun]

Capitalism wants you to believe that your body is a machine, and it doesn't belong to you. We're saying no, your body is not a machine. It belongs to you. You can rest now, you have a divine right to do so.

Tricia Hersey, @thenapministry

[thelondonerd]

@thenapministry

This is everything right now.

[maiabeyjujuarts]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by maiabey (@udamaejaxon)

Brothas y'all alright? How you feelin? Reposted from @blackmensmile This video is making its rounds right now and it makes us so happy!! We met @commandr 5 or so years ago when he was still working on his PhD and heading the @wiu_gbcc He brought out our team to speak on campus and we connected so deeply with him and the young men and women we started a Black Men Smile chapter on campus. It’s beautiful to see him still rocking the brand but more importantly still listening to, loving on, and learning from the young Kings who are within his reach and sphere of influence. Proud of you family. And ✊🏾🖤 to @thenapministry and @letstalkbruh for your important work advancing conversations like these. Let’s build. —- #blackmensmile #thenapministry #howareyou #blackmentalhealth #checkonyourfriends #wellbeing https://www.instagram.com/p/CbpopDsMavg/?utm_medium=tumblr

[naijaboi]

#Repost @thenapministry (@get_repost) ・・・ Annoint yourself with rest. Rest for your Ancestors. Connect with them in your dreams. You must rest. #napministry #thenapministry #restasresistance #restisresistance #sleep #rest #spiritualcare #healing #naps #napping #soulcare #selfcare #chicago #atlanta #performanceart #naptime #community #archive #spiritualdirection #reparations #joy #socialjustice #racialjustice #justice #communitycare #womanism #restisreparations #blacklivesmatter✊🏾 https://www.instagram.com/p/CGNf9lPgRuI/?igshid=td4r86xqg59m

[ellemidnite]

Repost from @thenapministry • So, in 1918 white folks got together to create an ordinance for Black Women to work or they would be jailed or heavily fined. They already had an ordinance in place for Black Men. Why leisure and radical rest for Black people is a racial justice issue. Why we must rest without shame or guilt. Why we resist. Why we rest. A reckoning for this American history must happen. This Archival find from (BaelockHolmes on Twitter)1918, Greenville, South Carolina. It documents the call for an ordinance to force black women to take jobs. #napministry #thenapministry #restasresistance #restisresistance #sleep #rest #spiritualcare #healing #naps #napping #soulcare #selfcare #chicago #atlanta #performanceart #naptime #community #archive #spiritualdirection #reparations #joy #socialjustice #racialjustice #justice #communitycare #womanism #restisreparations #blacklivesmatter https://www.instagram.com/p/CGI2EKZBsgs/?igshid=14iszg054zjwr

[trascapades]

🎨#ArtIsAWeapon #Artist: Richard Mensah @officialrichardmensah #Artwork: Untitled - Oil on stretched canvas • I hope we are taking some time to rest during the hectic holiday season.... Image and caption reposted from @officialrichardmensah - Inspired in part by this quote ‘Rest is not some cute lil luxury item you grant to yourself as an extra treat after you’ve worked like a machine and are now burned out. REST is our path to liberation. A portable for healing. A human right. - The Nap Ministry @thenapministry . • • #richmends2001arts #thenapministry #blackartists #blackartcollectors #blackartcurators #contemporaryart #lockdownart #emergingartists #emergingblackartists #africanart #BlackGirlArtGeeks https://www.instagram.com/p/Cmn6wiQO_9o/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[itflowsthroughme]

[francescamaxime]

Repost from @thenapministry • Not new. Rest is also not new. You can rest. #napministry #thenapministry #restasresistance #restisresistance #sleep #rest #spiritualcare #healing #naps #napping #soulcare #selfcare #chicago #atlanta #performanceart #naptime #community #archive #spiritualdirection #reparations #joy #socialjustice #racialjustice #justice #communitycare #womanism #restisreparations #blacklivesmatter https://www.instagram.com/p/CEkapT5AJpF/?igshid=1wd88yv0tjirt

[sistazai]

I’m officially out of the social media office. I won’t be checking DMs or posting to stories until my soul says it’s time to return in January 2023. . . 70% of micro business life is admin, including day dreaming.The time leading up to the summer solstice (Southern Hemisphere on December 21st) is a powerful season for setting intentions and creating new practices that can transform our lives, personally and collectively, for the rest of the year. . . So, yes, rest is a vital element of how I business in ways that centre my humanity within this larger cosmic eco-system. Spaciousness is a non-negotiable. Time with Mama/Papa Earth and time with Great Grandmother Sky are integral to my practice. I cannot do what I do without incorporating rest, including deep rest, into my life. . . If rest scares you or makes you believe you are lazy or unproductive unless you “earn it”, you’re not alone. If you feel like you cannot afford to stop at all, please consider ways to incorporate rest into your day - even a meditation practice every few hours will help. . . @thenapministry has a book all about this practice of rest as how it is available to everyone, regardless of how impoverished and exhausted you are. . . Rest is imperative. I’ve walked that journey of hustling and grinding, exploiting my body and mind. It’s capitalism, babe. We’re all swimming in it. Don’t take it personally and feel ashamed or shamed for programming we all receive from little. Get free, one step at a time 🖤 . . And that’s it! Two month breaks from socials are so hard to do because I don’t know about you but the social media/smart phone addiction is real AF. So wish me well on my fifth trip to socials rehab, which is just to say I’m spending more time communing with nature than picking up my phone. Sending you love! Receiving love! . . I’m still emailing out love letters and love notes. And Patreon is also getting love and attention, including some gifts … yes, gifts, regardless of which tier you get a gift and you get a gift because reciprocity! . . Happy giving season. In Afrofuturistic Love, Sista Zai (aka low key panicking but that’s how this always starts out and eventually I ease into it) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClmY99MhwD87_pYR9Ti1sU1h_7GuoD7p1nXkm40/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[lauralzielke]

Posted @withregram • @thenapministry Our collective rest will save the world. Please copy these down and spend real time with them. No need to type up a quick answer here. Deprograming is a slow, meticulous love practice. We will rest. #napministry #thenapministry #restasresistance #restisresistance #sleep #rest #spiritualcare #healing #naps #napping #soulcare #selfcare #chicago #atlanta #performanceart #naptime #community #archive #spiritualdirection #reparations #joy #socialjustice #racialjustice #justice #communitycare #womanism #restisreparations #blacklivesmatter https://www.instagram.com/p/CD14vHBpvqC/?igshid=25ikld445kbw