Hello again, friends. I feel like I'm not finished talking about kindness. And if you'll stick with me, I'd like to share with you the sequence of events that happened for me. Because I'm practicing what I'm suggesting you do; I feel like practicing kindness for me right now means practicing radical rest. We can't always do that, but right now the space I'm in is demanding that I rest. And maybe you've had something like that happen for you as well. An unexpected event that makes you immobile physically or logistically. Maybe you've even felt financially immobile at times. But my point of bringing this up is not to dwell on the problems or the obstacles, but the gift and having them present. So Easter for me, raising a family with my husband was always a church event. And since we've moved to the south, we've redefined some of that.'Cause the four of us are not always together on every holiday like we used to be. Now they're young adults. And so my husband and I have taken to sunrise on the beach. It's so peaceful, it's so beautiful on the east coast of the us. Sunrise is is so, it's a beautiful experience. Only this year I had every intention of attending, but the body said, Uhuh, no, you need to stay in bed. You need to get more rest. And hours later, I'm enjoying somewhat of an early morning sunshine. And my first intention was like, oh, we didn't go to sunrise. And then this immediate second thought was, I didn't have it in me. I didn't have it in me. So sometimes rest means canceling plans, finding a backup. So yesterday I started feeling some strange pain in my ankle and I looked down and I realized it feels like it's sprained and I've got this huge lump on my ankle. Another reason I don't need to be schlepping chairs and, and walking through unstable terrain. So that required putting my foot up and wrapping it because every time the dog needs to go out or wants to play there's unsure footing potential for- anyway. We had some quality time, but the quality time was laced with rest. Even coloring Easter eggs is something that we've enjoyed through the years and we started to and didn't even finish. Well, it's Easter Monday and there's nothing wrong with coloring them if we want to today and if we don't want to. We love making dishes with hard boiled eggs anyway. So really nothing's wrong. It's just evolving like we are. And I recorded a little video for TikTok this morning using my affirmation deck and what came out today, I'm still looking at it, it's propped up on my desk, is permission to be seen, and it might seem like a separate topic, but quite honestly, it's right on topic. It is safe to see myself. I shine in my wholeness. Every day I am a new version of myself. And that's coming back to, how we approach our days, our traditions, our beliefs, what we hold important, evolves as we do, as we gather more information and we have more experiences and we develop relationships and sometimes we outgrow relationships. And sometimes things are the same, but better, the same, but better. Maybe you have the same people, but we are not the same versions of ourselves as we were when we first got together. So me shining in my wholeness meant,"you know what? I don't have to earn my rest. Rest is a radical act of kindness I can give myself." Instead of the old beliefs of I have to work and work and work and I can rest when I'm exhausted and I have crossed everything off that list, that to-do list, that's no longer my truth. Rest is where creativity is discovered. Rest is where power is stored and accessed. Rest is where. Wonderful ideas- divine ideas are stored and connected with. Rest is where babies grow. Rest is where bodies heal. Rest is where we can actually hear our hearts. I think that's why I've come to love meditation so much. I mean, it's right up there with prayer. Prayer has changed for me. Instead of asking for, I don't what I don't have. Prayer has become more of a gratitude practice because we have so much more than we have been taught to believe. But coming back to this idea of radical rest as a practice of kindness, if we're giving it to ourselves, then we understand when other people need to do the same. If we're giving it to ourselves, then we're giving other people space to rest as they, even if we would rather they be participating in something else. Rest is understanding that your adult daughter and son-in-law are just too tired to make the road trip for that holiday. Giving ourselves rest makes us appreciate the rest other people deserve, and tapping truly into a facet of love, and that is kindness. Kindness for oneself. That's where compassion lies. That's where self-compassion lies. And I could go on and on, but while we were busy resting, it was so nice to have that space for conversation to flow and not be rushed. I didn't feel like I had to have that mental list of things to cover while we're still in the room together. My daughter here taking a day off from work. It was such a beautiful thing. And, and so my family tapped into this Amazon Prime series, the jury or jury duty. And my husband and my kids just really tap into the, the goofy humor. And I watched a little bit of it and I thought, oh, that's a really creative idea. Well, they came out with a second season and. I think it was yesterday, they dropped the rest of the episodes. Well, we made a date to sit on the sofa and binge watch it. And this one was based I'm not gonna spoil it if anybody wants to watch it, but instead of a G room full of characters who allegedly were strangers. This was a group of characters who allegedly have a history with each other as a company retreat. And I think that's what they called it, the retreat. But you can find it on Amazon Prime and you don't have to be an Amazon fan in order to really appreciate this programming and the creative writing that took place and coming back to kindness and rest, radical rest. With my foot propped up, my ankle wrapped I was able to actually just watch it and be still, and not be doing a hundred things like folding laundry and everything else, and. It really, it let me receive the gift of this beautiful writing. It's so, so, so creative. The premise being that everything is acting except one character and that person really thinks that they are in this real life scenario. It's kind of a wink to when I was on a child of the seventies, show smile. You're on Candid camera. Or maybe even a little link to the Truman Show, the idea where everything is fabricated and a person or persons don't realize it's all staged. And the reason why this is so connected to kindness is- honestly, that's what it was. The whole storyline, the whole framework, all of the weeks and weeks and weeks and probably hundreds of people involved in the creation of this program, literally set up this character to have a beautiful real life experience where they were, they were set up to be compassionate. And kind and good, and the character really did shine, and I'm not gonna spoil it, but I'm gonna tell you this programming was a combination of beautiful creativity, kindness, and beautiful human spirit wrapped up in humor. Humor and c raziness. There were points I heard myself saying, oh my God, I can't keep watching. It's just getting worse, but it's really actually getting better. At the same time, it really pushed the envelope in certain parts, but it was delicious entertainment and it was so nice to see the, the reveal at the end. And here are the responses of the characters, the people stepping out of character to reveal themselves to the, I don't wanna tell you what they call the main character,'cause that's part of the spoiling. But it was really, really, it was encouraging programming. And, you know, I care about what I put in my mind and in my body and in my company. And that was, that was time well spent. So if you're not a big TV person, because you just feel like there's a whole lot of garbage out there, well I just give you something good you can enjoy ideally with somebody you can discuss it with afterwards. So I'm curious to know if anybody listening to this episode has already watched. I would love to hear your thoughts. Moving on. Yes. The ankle is still wrapped. Yes. I'm taking it easy. But I'm using the gift of awareness to give myself radical rest, because when our physical bodies are operational the way we need them to, everything else is so much easier and. I'm just practicing gratitude for the awareness of this instead of shaming myself for the list that remains long of unfinished tasks and unfinished projects. And, there's always more. That's the thing about life. I'm seeing myself in my wholeness and my wholeness is my presence. I'm sitting here with frizzy hair, and you know what? Maybe that's okay. That's part of my authentic wholeness. I'm showing up for you. I'm showing up for me in my wholeness of authenticity and kindness. So what is, tell me what is the last kindest thing you did or said to yourself? I would love to know and if you're not really sure about the answer to that question, maybe ask yourself, what is the next kindest thing I can do for myself right now? I would love, love to brainstorm ideas with you. And something really, challenging for a lot of people, but impactful is simply looking yourself in the mirror, looking at your own reflection and saying something that you appreciate. I'm proud of you for, or you always seem to figure out what, fill in the blank. Today I am so grateful for. I showed up. I showed up. I did the best I could. I'm still a work in progress, but I'm still in my wholeness even though I'm incomplete. Incomplete and wholeness are not contradictions, are they? Not at all. And in our rest we get to appreciate and notice that more and more. So depending on your state of mind, you know, if, if that rest needs to be for your mind, then choosing lighter topics will be something kinder. But if you are more like where I am and it's more of a physical rest that you have to have and the mind is sharp and rearing to go, these are perfect times to pick up something you've been meaning to read. Perfect time to. Write that letter, you know, you'll never receive from that person. You wish you would write it to yourself. Perfect opportunity to review a journal- If you have one that you've written. Perfect opportunity to measure back and maybe even make a list of things that you'd love to do that'll fill you up. I don't mean a honey-do list of chores. I'm talking about fun. Maybe even order yourself a new book, maybe head to the library and grab something you can borrow. Maybe simply reaching out and making a date to meet somebody to talk about a book. Maybe looking for a book club. Maybe I'm missing the mark for you. What's something that could go on your list of things, fun things to do, and then just choose one. Just choose one and decide when it's gonna happen, even if it's not gonna happen today. I told my husband I wanted to explore the local safari because we found out there's a Cap Barra cafe where you can sip your coffee and visit cap bars. I've always wanted to meet one and there's one local now. So that went on my list of things I wanna do sooner than later. Maybe we'll do that this coming weekend. Maybe we'll do that after submitting our taxes. After filing our taxes as a Yay. We did it. Now let's go do something much more fun. Yeah. So what is that kindest thing that you can do in the spirit of radical rest? I would love a list of ideas because I'm sure you'll come up with some, I have not yet. But whatever you do, do it with kindness. Not don't do it just because you have to. Do it with the intention of it's safe to rest. This is where my power is stored. This is where I show up as the best version of myself is by balancing rest with my action. And by doing this, we're the permission slip somebody else needs to do the same. Lead by example, right? The best teachers I ever had we're the ones who were always leading by example, always learning, always developing, always growing, always curious. So I'm curious how much can we grow through radical rest today? And I'm sure the list will continue to grow of the many, many ways that we can rest, but show up in kindness for ourselves and one another. And I do want to repeat myself one more time. About something I've mentioned many times through the past several episodes, and that is give yourself grace to shut off the news, to disconnect. We can send love without walking in somebody else's shoes. Your shoes need to be filled by you. My shoes need to be filled by me and, we can love one another fully by also loving ourselves first. Okay. I hope that this met you where you are. I hope you will come back. I hope you'll share this with somebody else who might just need that gentle nudge to show themselves kindness and some radical rest too. Until next time, keep picturing love, friends. Bye-bye.