Rest as a Spiritual Practice: Honoring the Season You’re In

There’s a certain shift that happens every year right around Daylight Savings Time. The light changes in a way that feels subtle and unmistakable at the same time. The mornings look different. The evenings arrive earlier than we expect. And the world seems to exhale in a slower, quieter rhythm.

If you’re anything like me, your energy shifts right along with it.

This year, the change touched me in a way that felt deeper than usual. My mornings have asked for more stillness. My evenings have needed more softness. My body has been nudging me toward a different pace—one with more intention, more pauses, more room to simply breathe.

In seasons past, I would have brushed past that feeling. I would have tried to keep my foot on the gas, convinced that everything needed to stay exactly as it was. Same level of productivity. Same level of energy. Same expectations. No matter what the season was asking of me.

But time, lived experience, and a whole lot of self-honesty have been faithful teachers in my life.

They’ve taught me that when I honor the season I’m actually in—not the one I wish I were in, or the one I feel pressured to be in—I experience more calm, more clarity, and more ease.

There is something sacred that happens when I stop resisting and allow myself to move with the shift instead of against it. My shoulders soften. My breath deepens. My emotions have room to unfold. And slowly, almost quietly, I begin to hear myself again.

This is at the heart of what I want to talk about today:
rest as a spiritual practice.

Not rest as a reward.
Not rest as “self-care Sunday.”
Not rest because you’re burnt out and have nothing left to give.

I’m talking about rest as a way of honoring what is required in the moment.
Rest as a way of listening to your body and your spirit.
Rest as a way of coming back home to yourself before you reach the point of exhaustion.

This is something we recently explored inside my High Vibing Empath Community, and I want to take our conversation a little deeper here.

Why Rest is Challenging for Sensitive Souls

I’ve worked with empaths and highly sensitive people for more than 25 years, and I’ve seen a pattern that shows up over and over again: we don’t rest easily.

We think we should be able to do “just one more thing.”
We don’t want to disappoint anyone.
We don’t want to be seen as unreliable.
We worry that if we slow down, we’ll lose our momentum.
We fear that if we stop moving, the feelings we’ve tucked away will rise to the surface.

And underneath all of that, there’s often a deeper truth:
we forget that our energy has seasons.

We expect ourselves to be in a constant state of summer—bright, outward, energized, available—when our bodies are telling us they’re in late fall or early winter, asking for slowness, warmth, stillness, and intention.

When we ignore that shift, we feel it.
Emotionally.
Spiritually.
Physically.

And when we honor it, we feel the difference almost immediately.

A Sacred Invitation to Move Differently

Ever since the time change, something in me has felt different. Not wrong—just different. A pull toward moving slower. A desire for longer pauses between things. A softness in my internal pace that I can’t pretend isn’t there.

And I’ve been listening.

Nature shifts during this time, too.
The trees release what they no longer need.
Animals adjust their patterns.
The earth gets quieter, more reflective, more inward.

We are not separate from that.
We are part of it.

There is a reason so many of us feel the need to slow down during this season—our bodies and spirits respond to the natural world around us. And when we allow ourselves to follow that rhythm instead of fighting it, something in us settles.

We don’t have to brace.
We don’t have to push.
We don’t have to pretend we’re at a different point in the cycle.

We can simply be where we are.
And breathe there.

Three Teachings from Our Community Conversation

When we explored rest as a spiritual practice inside the High Vibing Empath Community, these were the three teachings that stood out the most. They feel just as important now as they did in that moment.

1. Rest Brings Us Back to Center

Think of your inner world like a snow globe.

When everything is moving fast, the inside gets shaken. Emotions swirl together. Thoughts float around with no direction. Everything feels jumbled and unclear.

But the moment we pause—even briefly—things begin to settle.

The picture becomes clearer.
We can see what we’re actually feeling.
We can understand what’s calling for our attention.

Rest doesn’t pull us away from our lives.
It brings us back to ourselves.

It gently guides us from overwhelm to awareness, from reactivity to grounded presence, from emotional turmoil to emotional truth.

We can’t hear our inner voice when we’re rushing.
Rest gives it space to speak.

2. Our Energy Has Seasons

This is the teaching that has shaped my own life more than almost anything else.

Just as nature cycles through phases of expansion, fullness, release, and renewal—we do the same.

We’re not meant to stay at the same pace all year long.
We’re not designed for constant output.
We’re not expected to be “on” in every season.

When the days shorten, our bodies often ask for more rest.
When the light shifts, our emotions often shift, too.
When the world quiets itself, our spirits crave quiet right along with it.

And when we honor that rhythm, we experience so much more ease.

There’s nothing wrong with feeling slower these days.
Give yourself permission to follow nature’s lead.

Fighting your season creates tension.
Honoring your season creates peace.

3. Stillness Makes Space for Clarity

Some truths only reach us in the quiet.

Some emotions won’t rise until we stop moving.
Some insights won’t come until we slow down.
Some decisions only become clear when we stop pressuring ourselves to figure everything out right now.

Stillness allows us to listen deeply.

It creates enough space for your soul to tell the truth it’s been holding.

When we rest, we make room for clarity that arrives gently, in its own timing, once we’ve created the space for it to land.

Why We Resist the Rest We Need

Even when we know rest is calling us, many of us resist it.
Not intentionally.
Not because we don’t want peace.
But because slowing down requires honesty and vulnerability.

Rest often brings emotions to the surface.
Rest shows us where we’re overextended.
Rest reveals truths we’ve been avoiding.
Rest invites us to admit that we’re human and limited and deserving of gentleness.

And for many sensitive souls, that level of vulnerability can feel uncomfortable.

So we stay busy.
We keep going.
We try to outrun our own tiredness.

But eventually, our bodies, our spirits, and our emotions ask for what they need—more space, more breath, more permission to just be.

When we rest, we create space for integration.

It’s the moment where everything we’ve been holding onto finally has room to settle.

Rest as a Spiritual Practice

To me, rest is deeply spiritual.

It’s a way of listening.
It’s a way of honoring the wisdom God has placed within us.
It’s a way of trusting that we don’t have to figure out life alone.

When we rest, we create space for:

• clarity

• intuition

• healing

• emotional release

• spiritual guidance

• alignment

• deeper connection

Rest brings us back into relationship with the Divine that allows us to be steady, gentle, and present.
It reminds us that we’re supported.
It slowly brings us into greater alignment with who we’re becoming.

Rest is not separate from our spiritual lives.
It’s one of the ways we stay connected to them.

If You’re Feeling Slower These Days… Let It Be Information

You’re not meant to maintain the same pace in every season.

You’re allowed to slow down.
You’re allowed to pause.
You’re allowed to take care of yourself without apologizing for it.

Let your energy shift.
Let your spirit guide you.
Let your pace mirror the season you’re in with no judgment or condemnation.

There is nothing wrong with feeling quieter right now.
There is wisdom in it.

Listen to it.

Journal Reflection

What would change this week if I allowed myself to slow down enough to hear what my spirit has been trying to say?

Sit with it.
Let it meet you wherever you are.
There’s usually more truth inside that question than we want to admit.

A Gentle Next Step

If you’re craving deeper support as you move through this season, I’d be honored to walk with you.

I provide counseling in Maryland for sensitive souls, high-achieving anxious professionals, and anyone longing for more clarity, peace, and emotional steadiness in their lives. If you feel called to explore how counseling might support you, you’re welcome to schedule a free 15-minute consultation.

You don’t have to navigate this season alone.
Support is here when you’re ready. Click this link to get started.