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Connecting to Self & Inter-Connectedness

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Connecting to Self & Inter-Connectedness

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angel Kyodo williams, the author, activist, and master trainer, describes the internal path to compassion and interdependence.

https://www.eomega.org/videos/connecting-to-self-interconnectedness

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Are you tired of hearing the word self-care yet? These days, the whole world seems to be talking about making time for you and starting your own self-care routine (oh wait, I totally did that too). Even though this topic is all over the interwebs, I'm definitely glad to see people retreating from the culture of busy and realizing that finding time for ourselves is vital to living a happy and fulfilling life.

But, of course, with all of this talk about self-care comes a lot of misconception. It's important to take a moment to make sure we actually know what we mean when we say self-care. Is it taking a bath, getting a massage, and painting your nails? Maybe, but there's more to it than that.

Today, I'm going to break down the meaning of self-care, tell you all about the five different dimensions (which are totes fascinating if you ask me), and give you tons of practical ideas that you can start incorporating into your self-care regime. Boom.

So what is self-care?

Let's get started with a quick and easy definition of self-care, shall we?

self·care // activities and practices we engage in on a regular basis to reduce stress and enhance our well-being

I'm going to just pause you for a moment and direct your attention to the word regular here. These are practices we need to schedule into our days often, rather than just once in a while. Ultimately, self-care is about finding something that you can do on the regular to make you feel comfortable and relaxed, away from the pressure of your to-do list(s).

What's also important to note is that there are so many different ways to take care of yourself. While certain practices may work for others, you may find that they don't work for you.

I was recently talking to my friend Kayla about self-care, and she said she was having a hard time getting into the typical self-care practices like taking a bath and practicing yoga, but hiking was an activity that really resonated with her because it helps calm her mind down.

As you can imagine, there are endless possibilities for your self-care practice, and one way to look at it is by splitting self-care into five different dimensions that make for a well-rounded approach.

The Five Dimensions of Self-Care

There are three different dimensions that I emphasize the most when it comes to self-care: mental, physical, spiritual. If you've tried my self-care routine method, you'll understand why. There are also two bonus dimensions: social and emotional. Incorporating activities from each dimension into your life means you'll be nourishing every aspect in your life and ultimately getting better at self-care (probably without even realizing you're doing it).

Let's dive a little deeper into these different dimensions by explaining what they are and how they can benefit you, as well as giving examples for each dimension so you can begin thinking about which self-care practices you want to incorporate into your life regularly. Ready? Let's do this.

01 / Mental

The desire to learn new concepts and expand your knowledge contributes positively to your overall well-being. Mental self-care is about finding the balance between stimulating your mind and giving your mind a break, and this can help with creativity, innovation, and continual learning. I'm a big advocate for personal growth, but I greatly appreciate the opportunity to switch off and let my brain rest for a while.
Examples of Mental Self-Care:
02 / Physical

The physical dimension of self-care encompasses safety, health, nutrition, movement, physical touch, and sexual needs. When you practice activities for your physical well-being, you can increase your energy levels and boost your self-esteem.
Examples of Physical Self-Care:
03 / Spiritual

The spiritual dimension of self-care involves a personal practice that allows you to follow the values and beliefs that give you purpose. Dedicating time to this dimension can help you find more meaning in life, develop a sense of belonging, and find a connection to something greater than oneself. Even if you're not religious, it's still important make a connection with the spiritual dimension somehow.
Examples of Spiritual Self-Care:
04 / Social

Social connection is another important dimension of self-care, even though most people associate self-care with themselves (because, duh, it has the word self in it). But social connection helps create a sense of belonging and acceptance which we humans need, and it allows us to create and share a common bond with others.
Examples of Social Self-Care:

Going to a workout class

Walking with friends

Joining or starting a book club

Working at a coffee shop

Organizing a family dinner

Reaching out to a new person

05 / Emotional

Tapping into the emotional self-care dimension helps us understand ourselves more, cope with challenges, and develop and nourish healthy relationships. When we tend to our emotional needs, we cultivate a greater sense of compassion, kindness, and love for ourselves and others.
Examples of Emotional Self-Care:

Thank you to The Gottman Institute for creating this graphic!

Putting It Into Practice

Now that you've learned all about the dimensions of self-care, think about how you might start to incorporate them into your regular routine. Maybe it's walking with a friend on your lunch break, reading a book before bed, or trying out some positive affirmations in the morning. You could also try incorporating them into the Self-Care Power Hour if that jives with you. Just think about what you would find fun or relaxing and make a conscious effort to do more of it!

Did you like this post?

What do you think about the five dimensions of self-care? Have they changed your perspective of self-care in any way? Let us know in the comments below! I'd love to hear about your favorite self-care practice and how you plan to incorporate the self-care dimensions into your routine.

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What The Five Dimensions of Self-Care Look Like

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Last Updated on Are you tired of hearing the word self-care yet? These days, the whole world seems to be talking about making time for you and starting your own self-care routine (oh wait, I totally did that too).

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The Tree illustrates some of the contemplative practices currently in use in secular organizational and academic settings. This is not intended to be a comprehensive list. Below the tree you will find links to descriptions of many of these practices as well as a more in-depth description of the tree and image files for downloading.

Some of the practices on the tree link to further information-either on our website, or on Wikipedia.
© CMind, the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society
Concept & design byMaia Duerr; illustration by Carrie Bergman
Suggested citation for this version:
CMind. (2014). The Tree of Contemplative Practices [Illustration]. The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. http://www.contemplativemind.org/practices/tree

Understanding the Tree

On the Tree of Contemplative Practices, the roots symbolize the two intentions that are the foundation of all contemplative practices. The roots of the tree encompass and transcend differences in the religious traditions from which many of the practices originated, and allow room for the inclusion of new practices that are being created in secular contexts.

The branches represent different groupings of practices. For example, Stillness Practices focus on quieting the mind and body in order to develop calmness and focus. Generative Practices may come in many different forms but share the common intent of generating thoughts and feelings, such as thoughts of devotion and compassion, rather than calming and quieting the mind. (Please note that such classifications are not definitive, and many practices could be included in more than one category.)

Because this illustration cannot possibly include all contemplative practices, we offer a free download of a blank tree that you can customize to include your own practices. Activities not included on the tree (including those which may seem mundane, such as gardening or eating) may be understood to be contemplative practices when done with the intent of cultivating awareness and wisdom.

Where Did This Image Come From?

The original version of the tree was created to illustrate a 2004 report, " A Powerful Silence: The Role of Meditation and Other Contemplative Practices in American Life and Work" (Duerr, 2004), for a project that explored the ways contemplative practices were being used within organizations. The practices listed on the initial tree illustration were those reported by project participants. Over the years, as CMind's focus shifted to academia, we heard from educators about how particular practices were being used in their work, and so the current tree is representative of practices used in academic contexts. No version of the tree is intended to be definitive or fully representative of the varieties of contemplative practice.

Downloading and Reprinting the Tree

Yes, you may use the tree for personal, educational, and non-commercial purposes without permission. For example, please do feel free to use it to illustrate the academic paper you are writing, hand it out to your class or workshop, post it on your blog, or print it out to display it at your organization or institution. The Tree of Contemplative Practices is a copyrighted image. Only commercial use of the image (i.e., selling it), including derivative work, is not allowed without our permission.

You can contact Carrie Bergman at carrie@contemplativemind.org if you have questions regarding the use of the tree, if you require a signature for your publisher's permissions form, or just to share how you have used the tree in your work. We love hearing about how it has been useful to you! Thank you!

For low-resolution use: Download a 185 KB, 600 x 608 pixel .jpg image of the Tree of Contemplative Practices

A Blank Tree for Your Own Practices

Here's a version of the Tree with the practice and branch names removed, so you can fill it in however you wish.

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The Tree illustrates some of the contemplative practices currently in use in secular organizational and academic settings. This is not intended to be a comprehensive list. Below the tree you will find links to descriptions of many of these practices as well as a more in-depth description of the tree and image files for downloading.

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Healing Resources for BIPOC Organizers & Allies Taking Action for Black Lives

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Healing Resources for BIPOC Organizers & Allies Taking Action for Black Lives

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"It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains."
- Assata Shakur, Assata: An Autobiography.

A protester faces police in New York City on May 30. (Photo: Corey Sipkin/UPI)

From Georgia to Louisville to Central Park to Minneapolis, to the disproportionately Black & POC lives lost to COVID-19, to all of the places and events that didn't make the news - our country is in a deep & necessary reckoning around hundreds of years of systemic racism and violence.

Maybe you are involved in rapid response actions and protests. Maybe you're overwhelmed, enraged, or numbed out, or perhaps you are resting and fortifying yourself at an altar. Wherever you're at, we want to share some healing and support to accompany you.

Below is a list of resources to support your mind-body-soul in this moment. It includes quick tune-ups for your nervous system, Black-led sessions on healing from racialized trauma, education and practices for allies showing up in solidarity, and a final section intended to help you understand this political moment and a few strategic lenses for the long haul.

Sending love especially to our Black, Indigenous, and POC folks in the heart of the struggle right now. We are with you. We love you. We support you.

"The more that I feel, the more I feel the need to act." - BJ STAR

Protestors in Milwaukee risk arrest for immigrant rights in 2013. (Photo: Josiah Werning)

In the midst of direct action

Quick tune-ups to support your nervous system

Ways to show up without hitting the streets

"If we're going to put our bodies on the line for Black Liberation, we need to make sure our Black bodies are here for as long as possible." - Miski Noor

A member of the Irresistible community shares an image of their altar. (Photo: Leroy)

Podcast practices

Community offerings

Trauma Response and Crisis Care (TRACC) is offering 1:1 and group support for activists/organizers, BIPOC/QTPOC, and first responders who are struggling during this moment and could use a listening ear.

Community Care Office Hours with Faith Matters Network are designed for religious leaders, organizers, and activists who are being called to the frontlines to navigate through the coronavirus crisis and could use a listening ear to check-in with individually. English, Spanish, and Korean language available.

Black Emotional and Mental Health (BEAM) virtual Black-centered healing and support spaces. Multiple offerings, including "Heart Space" on Tuesdays at 7p EST - a space for Black folks & their feelings with meditation, songs, & individual check ins.

Third Root Community Health Center yoga & meditation classes, including BIPOC & QTPOC classes, FREE to Black community members through 6/7. Additional classes marked NOTA (no one turned away for lack of funds) for all. Email info@thirdroot.org to register. Also: Remember We Are Water, a free BIPOC support space for grief & loss on 6/13.

#TurnUpAtYourAltar - Every night at 8pm CST. This is an invitation to Black and Brown people to return insong, prayer, & meditation, exploring the inward ways to honor ancestors in protest, and to seek guidance to work for the long haul.

"You cannot be a part of a dominant culture of 500 years of dehumanizing violence and come out unscathed." - Kelly Germaine-Strickland

A human chain blocks the Louisville Metro Police from getting to demonstrators. (Photo: Facebook)

"Crisis comes when we reach a breaking point and have to decide which direction to go." - Dove Kent

Minneapolis organizers gather in 2015, protesting the police murder of Jamar Clark. (Photo: Chris Juhn)

Find more resources for whatever you need right now by searching our vast library of movement conversations & practices at What resources are getting you through right now? Comment below! irresistible.org/podcast

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Healing Resources for BIPOC Organizers & Allies Taking Action for Black Lives

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"It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains." - Assata Shakur, Assata: An Autobiography.

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30 Grounding Techniques to Quiet Distressing Thoughts

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30 Grounding Techniques to Quiet Distressing Thoughts

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Grounding is a practice that can help you pull away from flashbacks, unwanted memories, and negative or challenging emotions.

Grounding techniques are exercises that may help you refocus on the present moment to distract yourself from anxious feelings.

You can use grounding techniques to help create space from distressing feelings in nearly any situation, but they're especially helpful for improving:

These techniques use your five senses or tangible objects - things you can touch - to help you move through distress.

1. Put your hands in water

Focus on the water's temperature and how it feels on your fingertips, palms, and the backs of your hands. Does it feel the same in each part of your hand?

Use warm water first, then cold. Next, try cold water first, then warm. Does it feel different to switch from cold to warm water versus warm to cold?

2. Pick up or touch items near you

Are the things you touch soft or hard? Heavy or light? Warm or cool? Focus on the texture and color of each item. Challenge yourself to think of specific colors, such as crimson, burgundy, indigo, or turquoise, instead of simply red or blue.

3. Breathe deeply

Slowly inhale, then exhale. If it helps, you can say or think "in" and "out" with each breath. Feel each breath filling your lungs and note how it feels to push it back out.

4. Savor a food or drink

Take small bites or sips of a food or beverage you enjoy, letting yourself fully taste each bite. Think about how it tastes and smells and the flavors that linger on your tongue.

5. Take a short walk

Concentrate on your steps - you can even count them. Notice the rhythm of your footsteps and how it feels to put your foot on the ground and then lift it again.

6. Hold a piece of ice

What does it feel like at first? How long does it take to start melting? How does the sensation change when the ice begins to melt?

7. Savor a scent

Is there a fragrance that appeals to you? This might be a cup of tea, an herb or spice, a favorite soap, or a scented candle. Inhale the fragrance slowly and deeply and try to note its qualities (sweet, spicy, citrusy, and so on).

8. Move your body

Do a few exercises or stretches. You could try:

jumping jacks

jumping up and down

jumping rope

jogging in place

stretching different muscle groups one by one

Pay attention to how your body feels with each movement and when your hands or feet touch the floor or move through the air.

How does the floor feel against your feet and hands? If you jump rope, listen to the sound of the rope in the air and when it hits the ground.

9. Listen to your surroundings

Take a few moments to listen to the noises around you. Do you hear birds? Dogs barking? Machinery or traffic? If you hear people talking, what are they saying? Do you recognize the language?

Let the sounds wash over you and remind you where you are.

10. Feel your body

You can do this sitting or standing. Focus on how your body feels from head to toe, noticing each part. Consider:

your hair on your shoulders or forehead

the weight of your shirt on your shoulders

whether your arms feel loose or stiff at your sides

your heartbeat, and whether it's rapid or steady

whether your stomach feels full or you feel hungry

whether your legs are crossed or your feet are resting on the floor

Curl your fingers and wiggle your toes. Are you barefoot or in shoes? How does the floor feel against your feet?

11. Try the 5-4-3-2-1 method

Working backward from 5, use your senses to list things you notice around you. For example, you might start by listing:

5 things you hear

4 things you see

3 things you can touch from where you're sitting

2 things you can smell

1 thing you can taste

Make an effort to notice the little things you might not always pay attention to, such as the color of the flecks in the carpet or the hum of your computer.

These grounding exercises use mental distractions to help redirect your thoughts away from distressing feelings and back to the present.

12. Play a memory game

Look at a detailed photograph or picture (like a cityscape or other "busy" scene) for 5-10 seconds. Then, turn the photograph face-down and recreate the photograph in your mind in as much detail as possible. Or, you can mentally list all the things you remember from the picture.

13. Think in categories

Choose one or two broad categories, such as "musical instruments," "ice cream flavors," or "baseball teams." Take a minute or so to mentally list as many things from each category as you can.

14. Use math and numbers

Even if you aren't a math person, numbers may help center you.

Try:

running through a times table in your head

counting backward from 100

choosing a number and thinking of five ways you could make the number (6 + 11 = 17, 20 - 3 = 17, 8 × 2 + 1 = 17, etc.)

15. Recite something

Think of a poem, song, or book passage you know by heart. Recite it quietly to yourself or in your head.

If you say the words aloud, focus on the shape of each word on your lips and in your mouth. If you say the words in your head, visualize each word as you'd see it on a page.

16. Make yourself laugh

Make up a silly joke - the kind you'd find on a candy wrapper or popsicle stick.

You might also watch your favorite funny animal video, a clip from a comedian or TV show you enjoy, or anything else you know will make you laugh.

17. Use an anchoring statement

This might be something like, "I'm Full Name. I'm X years old. I live in City, State. Today is Friday, June 3. It's 10:04 in the morning. I'm sitting at my desk at work. There's no one else in the room."

You can expand on the phrase by adding details until you feel calm, such as, "It's raining lightly, but I can still see the sun. It's my break time. I'm thirsty, so I'm going to make a cup of tea."

18. Visualize a daily task you enjoy or don't mind doing

If you like doing laundry, for example, think about how you'd put away a finished load.

"The clothes feel warm coming out of the dryer. They're soft and a little stiff at the same time. They feel light in the basket, even though they spill over the top. I'm spreading them out over the bed so they won't wrinkle. I'm folding the towels first, shaking them out before folding them into halves, then thirds," and so on.

19. Describe a common task

Think of an activity you do often or can do very well, such as making coffee, locking up your office, or tuning a guitar. Go through the process step-by-step, as if you're giving someone else instructions on how to do it.

20. Imagine yourself leaving the painful feelings behind

Visualize:

gathering the emotions, balling them up, and putting them into a box

walking, swimming, biking, or jogging away from painful feelings

your thoughts as a song or TV show you dislike, changing the channel or turning down the volume - they're still there, but you don't have to listen to them

21. Describe what's around you

Spend a few minutes taking in your surroundings and noting what you see. Use all five senses to provide as much detail as possible.

"This bench is red, but the bench over there is green. It's warm under my jeans since I'm in the sun. It feels rough, but there aren't any splinters. The air smells like smoke. I hear kids laughing and dogs barking."

You can use these techniques to comfort yourself in times of emotional distress. These exercises can help promote good feelings that may help the negative feelings fade or seem less overwhelming.

22. Picture the voice or face of someone you love

If you feel upset or distressed, visualize someone positive in your life. Imagine their face or think of what their voice sounds like. Imagine them telling you that the moment is tough but that you'll get through it.

23. Practice self-kindness

Repeat kind, compassionate phrases to yourself:

"You're having a rough time, but you'll make it through."

"You're strong, and you can move through this pain."

"You're trying hard, and you're doing your best."

Say it, either aloud or in your head, as many times as you need.

24. Sit with your pet

If you're at home and have a pet, spend a few moments just sitting with them. If they're of the furry variety, pet them, focusing on how their fur feels. Consider their markings or unique characteristics. If you have a smaller pet you can hold, concentrate on how they feel in your hand.

Not at home? Think of your favorite things about your pet or how they would comfort you if they were there.

25. List favorites

List three favorite things in several different categories, such as:

26. Visualize your favorite place

Think of your favorite place, whether it's the home of a loved one or a foreign country. Using each of your senses, imagine the noises you hear, the objects you see, and the scents you smell.

Try to recall the last time you went there. Think about what you did there and how it felt at the time.

27. Plan an activity

This might be something you do alone or with a friend or loved one. Think of what you'll do and when. Maybe you'll go to dinner, take a walk on the beach, see a movie you've been looking forward to, or visit a museum.

Focus on the details, such as what you'll wear, when you'll go, and how you'll get there.

28. Touch something comforting

This could be your favorite blanket, a much-loved T-shirt, a smooth stone, or anything that feels good to touch. Think about how it feels under your fingers or in your hand.

If you have a favorite sweater, scarf, or pair of socks, put them on and spend a moment thinking about the sensation of the fabric on your skin.

29. List positive things

Write or mentally list four or five things in your life that bring you joy, visualizing each briefly.

30. Listen to music

Put on your favorite song, but pretend you're listening to it for the first time. Focus on the melody and lyrics (if there are any).

Does the song give you chills or create any other physical sensations? Pay attention to the parts that stand out most.

While there's little research explaining how grounding techniques work, the techniques represent a common strategy for managing PTSD and anxiety.

Grounding techniques use tools such as visualization and senses including sight, hearing, and smell to help distract you from a variety of possible feelings and thoughts. Like mindfulness techniques, they help you return to the present moment.

During a panic attack or traumatic flashback, your emotions can take over your thoughts and physical responses. Focusing on the present through grounding techniques can help interrupt your body's response and return your brain and feelings to a place of safety.

Grounding yourself isn't always easy. It may take some time to find the techniques that work best for you in different situations.

Here are some additional tips to help you get the most out of these techniques:

Practice: It can help to practice grounding even when you aren't dissociating or experiencing distress. If you get used to an exercise before you need to use it, it may take less effort when you want to use it to cope in the moment.

Avoid assigning values: For example, if you're grounding yourself by describing your environment, concentrate on the basics of your surroundings rather than how you feel about them.

Check in with yourself: Before and after a grounding exercise, rate your distress as a number between 1 and 10. What level is your distress when you begin? How much did it decrease after the exercise? This can help you get a better idea of whether a particular technique is working for you.

Grounding techniques can be powerful tools to help you cope with distressing thoughts in the moment. If you're having trouble using grounding techniques, a therapist may be able to assist.

It's also important to get help from a therapist so you can address the root cause of your distress. If you don't have one yet, check out our guide to affordable therapy.
If you need help finding a mental health professional, then check out our FindCare tool here.
What is the 5 4 3 2 1 grounding method or the rule of 5 grounding technique?

This technique asks you to count backward from 5 by thinking of your senses. You begin by noting 5 sounds you can hear and then move through all of your senses until you get to 1.

What does grounding do to your body?

Using grounding techniques can help you manage feelings like:

distress

traumatic flashbacks

nightmares

painful emotions, like anger

anxiety

It's best to try doing a grounding exercise when you first start to feel bad. Don't wait for distress to reach a level that's harder to handle. If the technique doesn't work at first, try to stick with it for a bit before moving on to another.

What are some grounding techniques for PTSD?

Various grounding techniques can help support you if you're living with PTSD. This includes focusing on the five senses, doing breathing exercises, or using a grounding mat.

Learn more about grounding types.

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Grounding Techniques: Exercises for Anxiety, PTSD, and More

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Grounding techniques can help you manage distressing thoughts and flashbacks in the moment. Learn 30 techniques to add to your emotional toolbox.

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Indigenous Self-Care Practices for Organizers

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Indigenous Self-Care Practices for Organizers

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There's no denying that we are in the midst of a historical time where social, political, and economic trends are changing. Folks are organizing their communities, jumping full force into defending freedoms and fighting for liberation. It's important in these times to not drift from ourselves; our bodily and spiritual needs.

As an Afro-Peruana, I grew up around my abuelas conducting "rituals." When I moved to the U.S., I heard these rituals described as supersticious at best, and demonic at worst, especially in comparison to mainstream Christianity. Years later, I came to find spiritual fulfillment as I followed the path of my ancestors, which has helped center my intentions in the movement.

I chatted with Francisca Porchas, a Mijente member, an organizer with Puente Human Rights Movement, and an Ifa Practitioner. Francisca Porchas is well-versed on the topic of healing and finding our spiritual ground. Francisca is from Mexico and resides in Arizona. In speaking to her, she offered some advice on returning to our roots to find restoration.
Going Back: The How
How do I return to a tradition that never felt mine? Francisca said she began with the basics, by honoring her ancestors. "Our ancestors need us and we need them," she said. "We are a result of their struggle." Francisca began with acknowledging the trauma her ancestors survived, both personal and from colonization. Her first step was to set up an ancestor altar. Our ancestors don't just include blood relatives or immediate family-we can also call on the ancestors of the movement. Francisca has an image of Malcolm X on her altar.

Setting up an altar:
The Incas used altars to honor Mother Earth or Pachamama, their guides, helpers and allies. Find a private area in your home-it can be small, even as small as a bedside table. Clear the area of clutter, add a cloth that is beautiful or sacred to you. Add a statuette, flower, or crystal representing the Spirit. Add photos, totems, candles, and art work. Healing herbs can be lit during prayer.

Praye rs:
Some of us call it prayer, others meditation, but all must be approached with intention. Francisca Porchas published a guide called, " Morning prayers to the universe, your ancestors, your guiding spirits." It includes:
"I give praise to the universe
I give praise to mother earth
I give praise to all of nature and its beings
I give praise to all my guiding spirits

I give praise to my ancestors
I give praise to all that came before me in this struggle
I give praise to my elders
I give praise to all those who have cared for me, protected me, guided me and loved me."

Releasing self-depreciation energy:
Since colonization, we have been told that we are less than. Those sentiments have been echoed in the modern sociopolitical climate we're facing, especially under the new administration. Burn out and a feeling of inadequacy can quickly bring down a community continually fighting for its protection and rights. In Ayahuasca traditions, ritual baths are a communicating method between people and the plantas maestras or Spirit of the plants. The goal of these baths is to bring coolness and clarity and are often performed by shamans or curanderos. At home, they can be performed with the intention of washing away the negativity we have internalized.

- Use limes and leave out to dry to capture negative energies.
- Leave pomegranates out to dry to bring you spiritual and emotional prosperity and fertility.
- Place (uncooked) rice in a container on altar as a thanks to Pachamama for the crops.
- Yellow flowers in the home invite brighter energies.
- Aloe Vera plants are believed to bring protection to our homes, and double for medicinal use.

In our conversation, Francisca and I found a common theme: Our elders and ancestors are the guides we turned to when we felt our spirit calling for growth. Despite the differences in our practices, the similarities far outnumbered them. There are elders in our communities that can lead us in our spiritual practices as well, and whom will teach us much more than Google search or a book could.
For our ancestors, our communities, and our own liberation.

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Indigenous Self-Care Practices for Organizers

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There's no denying that we are in the midst of a historical time where social, political, and economic trends are changing. Folks are organizing their communities, jumping full force into defending freedoms and fighting for liberation. It's important in these times to not drift from ourselves; our bodily and spiritual needs.

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Recognizing white privilege begins with truly understanding the term itself.

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Deborah Frieze TED Talk

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How I Became a Localist | Deborah Frieze | TEDxJamaicaPlain

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The Two-Loop Theory of Organizational Transformation

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The Two-Loop Theory of Organizational Transformation

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Transformational Learning & Executive Coaching Services Irvine - Transformational Learning Opportunities

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Before Wheatley and Frieze added their second "dying" loop to the picture, most change agents never realized the proposition this visual points at through its inclusion of its second loop: Any effort to extend the growth of a human system, especially a purposeful one like a modern business organization, automatically and spontaneously activates both the growth side of the "organizational life cycle" (i.e., germination, innovation, maturation, and rejuvenation) and the death side of this cycle (i.e.stagnation, disintegration, and decomposition). Even a simple "single element" change effort, no matter how small and self-contained, inevitably leads to the need to deal with both the living and the dying aspects of an organization transformation.

This is why TLO, in its Organization Transformation work, insists on explicitly addressing with our Thought Partners both sides of what we see as a " Two-Loop Organization Transformation Process." Whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not, whether we want it or not, organization transformations are two-sided coins; they are complicatedly and paradoxically simultaneous life and death experiences.

Important ot Lessons

We first learned about the Two-Loop Theory of Change while surfing the internet. We ran across a 2014 blog by Amanda Fenton titled "Exploring How Living Systems Change."Several months later, we discovered a second blog she'd published in 2012, titled "A Theory of Change: Two Loops." These articles led to Wheatley and Frieze's"Using Emergence" article. With these resource in hand, we embarked on what's been a three-year journey looking for a viable approach to organizational transformation. So far, this journey has taught us some essential lessons about working with organization transformations, and put us on the path to the Organization Transformation model that we're now offering. Here are the four lessons:

Whether or not we acknowledge it, we have to pay close attention to both the living and the dying sides of transformation. If we want to launch a successful organization transformation effort, we need to support the disintegration cycle and the germination cycle, especially if we want to create for the people involved in both, the kinds of events and processes that they can receive and perceive in positive, developmental ways.

From the very first, OT Thought Partners, coaches and consultants must recognize that successful organization transformations are going to clearly and explicitly ask people to transform their personal precepts and basic identities (both individual and organizational), as well as their old modes of thinking, feeling and acting.

Organization transformations that succeed in asking for these types of contributions will create deep-seated anxiety.

Consequently, from the start, we must bring to our OT work the ability to demonstrate what Carl Rodgers called "unconditional regard." At base, it means that those leading and facilitating an organization transformation effort must, in demonstrable ways, believe that every one involved in the transformation is a human being who is well intentioned, trustworthy, and deserves to be treated with respect and dignity.

CONCEPTUAL IMPLICATIONS

Elsewhere, we've described "TLO's 8 Element, 2 Loop, 3 Horizon model of organization transformation as the conceptual framework we've developed...to help us make sense of...our twenty plus years worth of...OT consulting assignments." Now, at the end of this 2 Loop thought paper, we can point you towards one of the ways that two of the three key facets of TLO's theory -- the "8 Elements" and the "2 Loops" -- are interdependent.

Some of the toughest, but most important transformational work involves the integrated, simultaneous living and dying that has to take place among an organization's 8 Elements. For example, in every transformation, the organization's existing business model must do some dying. And right alongside this dying, a new business model must be germinating, fostering the emergence of new profit center experiments. Likewise, with an organization's existing Control and Coordination Element must be disaggregating itself, perhaps emerging as a new cooperative philosophy of supervision. Bottom line, for an organization to be transformed, all 8 Elements must die and be reborn across across and within a reasonably simultaneous time line.

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Before Wheatley and Frieze added their second "dying" loop to the picture, most change agents never realized the proposition this visual points at through its inclusion of its second loop: Any effort to extend the growth of a human system, especially a purposeful one like a modern business organization, automatically and spontaneously activates both the growth side of the "organizational life cycle" (i.e., germination, innovation, maturation, and rejuvenation) and the death side of this cycle (i.e.stagnation, disintegration, and decomposition).

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Using Emergence to take Social Innovation to Scale

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Using Emergence to take Social Innovation to Scale

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Article by Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze

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The Problem with that Equity vs. Equality Graphic You're Using

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The Problem with that Equity vs. Equality Graphic You're Using

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Post from Cultural Organizing

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Can We Stop Using the Box Graphic When We Talk About Equity?

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Can We Stop Using the Box Graphic When We Talk About Equity?

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An article by Heidi Schilinger

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Years ago, I first encountered this graphic showing a visual distinction between equality and equity. It quickly started making the rounds on social media, in presentations, and even in my own presentation slide deck. But something about it never quite resonated with me. I had a hard time articulating why I didn't think this was the best way to depict the important differences between equity and equality. Erin and I had numerous conversations about the graphic, I even drew some alternatives (with kids in deep holes). But, what Erin correctly pointed out is that this graphic is simple and easy to understand without words. I like text, so this poses a challenge to thinking about an easy-to-understand alternative.

In the last few years, I finally figured out what I don't like about this graphic and all the adaptations it has inspired. I continue to show it in my workshop, but with a big red X over the picture. I tell participants I don't like this picture as a way to talk about the difference between equality and equity, specifically racial equity. I ask people to guess why this might be a problematic way to visualize equity. Pause for a moment and ask yourself why this might be misleading graphic and then come back to the post.

What did you come up with? Usually, taking this time to slow down and reflect on why it might be problematic helps us see things that we might not have otherwise noticed. Usually, people mention things such as "the kids are all white" or "they are at a baseball game" or "there is a fence there." Other smart people noticed these things as well, and have recreated the image to have all black kids, kids at a soccer game, and kids without any fence in front of them.

I realized that what I don't like about this picture is the "equity" slide is accommodating for height differences. It is perpetuating the differences we are trying to address with equity are inherently biological. It continues this dangerous narrative that racial equity is "helping" people of color and communities of color because we are inherently and biologically deficient. I want to be clear accommodations for physical differences such as height or learning styles is important work. In the education world, this is called differentiation - but this is not racial equity. In fact, the subtle and probably unconscious narrative reinforces the racists ideas that "people of color are not as smart, not as motivated, and not as qualified, and need help to succeed." It is why I often hear people say things like:

If we let all students of color into advanced placement classes, we'll be lowering the bar.

It's their parents fault. They don't care enough.

This focus on diversity means qualified white people won't get in or get hired.

Yes, seriously people still say things like this. And, then there are the Fakequity statements from white allies and some people of color:

There are not enough qualified people of color.

You're so articulate. You're good with data and charts.

I know they can do higher level math, but we don't want to add more stress to their already stressful lives.

Asian kids are so obedient they do well in school because they follow the rules.

If you're having a hard time figuring out why the last set of examples are Fakequity, engage others, preferably people of color, in a dialogue about what they hear or what assumptions are being made in the statements.
Racial equity is about eliminating racism
Equity is the outcome when race will no longer be a predictor of health, education, income, etc. Right now, we can predict graduation rates, discipline data, advanced placement participation, criminal justice involvement, and health outcomes based on race. We can predict community meeting attendance, contractors, grant awards based on race. Achieving racial equity means these predication based on race are gone.

The subtle and insidious systemic racism wants us all to believe the reason race predicts these outcomes is because people of color don't work as hard, don't have as good of parents, don't have enough grit, don't spend enough time and money on the "right" things. This is why even in the name of "racial equity" schools, organizations, funder, government spend a lot of time trying to "fix" people of color and students of color. Teaching people of color to how write a resume or act in an interview. Or teaching students of color to have grit, better self-esteem, or social-emotional intelligence. Or philanthropic organizations to spend time teaching grassroots community of color organizations to write a grant or logic model. These are all important individual skills, but don't address very real systemic barriers or biases based on race. This Thich Nhat Hanh quotes helps me re-frame my thinking:
"When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce."
Systemic racism is about just that - systemic barriers and biases based on race. Racial equity is the elimination of those systemic barriers, so future generations of students of color are not being taught to have more grit or better self-esteem. Here is the thing about systemic racism, the very people (white people) who have the most control over changing organizational policies and practices have never experienced systemic racism.

People always ask, if you don't like the graphic what would you offer as an alternative. I must admit that I still don't have a great answer. And, even though I don't have a great alternative to offer doesn't mean we should continuing using the one above. I believe it is causing more harm than good. Here is my wordy explanation I give to people as my "right now" answer. Of course, it comes in the form of a good bike analogy (I bike a lot).
REALITY
The first frame needs to depict the "reality" of systemic racism. We've been giving road bikes and gear, training, etc. to white families for centuries, and if we give families of color a bike at all we give them a crappy bike that might not work at all. And, then we wonder why kids of color aren't succeeding in a road bike race. Think about how this functions with schools, neighborhoods, clean air, etc.

What would equality be in this scenario? Guesses?
EQUALITY
Did you guess give everyone a road bike? Yep, this would be "equality" give everyone the same thing. This even means giving white families another bike, even though they might have generations of bikes already. Why is this not the goal? Why is this not racial equity? I mean, I like riding bikes, but maybe not everyone does?

Now this is where my analogy gets tricky and requires words. What would racial equity be in this scenario? Any guesses? I often hear things like, the transportation option of their choice or an electric bike.
The simplest answer is people of color designed and led solutions and strategies.
Restricting our thinking to just bikes is how racism limits us to tweaking ideas and solutions already embedded in our systems. Ideas and solutions that were designed intentionally to uphold white supremacy and keep control and benefits in the hands of white people. In the environmental space, historically white-led organizations want to get people of color to buy into strategies such as planting trees, using bikes, or electric cars. These are all great things (and many people of color do use these strategies), but it ignores what communities of colors often cite as solutions, such as jobs closer to home and anti-displacement efforts as solutions to environmental racism. Whose ideas do you think have historically been funded and continued to be funded?

Equity isn't just giving boxes to short kids as the original picture at the top shows, equity is the harder work of listening and co-designing solutions with communities of color. Equity is giving up or sharing power and privilege. Equity is getting off of your road bike and slowing down to build relationships and enjoy what people of color bring and offer to the road race. Will you practice equity or fakequity?

Posted by Heidi Schillinger

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Can we stop using the box graphic when we talk about racial equity?

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Years ago, I first encountered this graphic showing a visual distinction between equality and equity. It quickly started making the rounds on social media, in presentations, and even in my own presentation slide deck. But something about it never quite resonated with me. I had a hard time articulating why I didn't think this was...

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Frames for Life, Liberation, and Belonging

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Frames for Life, Liberation, and Belonging

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A collection of stories meant to strengthen the vision of a broad conception of storytellers.

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Stories shape and reflect what is valued in a society; frames create the natural laws that give stories their gravity.

Frames shape how a story is told: what is emphasized and deemphasized, included and excluded. If the frame is individualism, then unions, community land trusts, and cooperative businesses are the stories of witches and thieves. If the frame is meritocracy, then affirmative action, reparations, maximum income, and guaranteed basic income are scientific impossibilities. If the frame is competition, then carbon taxes, the Environmental Protection Agency, free education, universal health care, and open borders are going the wrong direction down a one-way street. If the frame is othering, then a travel ban, controlling where someone goes to the bathroom, denying access to reproductive rights, environmental sacrifice zones, and racial profiling make perfect, plain, and common sense.

Worldviews are broad umbrellas of meaning; they can be subconscious and conscious, fluid and deeply rooted, widely spread and individualized.

While stories are shaped by frames, frames themselves are governed by the worldviews of the storyteller. Worldviews are broad umbrellas of meaning; they can be subconscious and conscious, fluid and deeply rooted, widely spread and individualized. Worldviews consist of collections of frames that distill how stories are told and which stories are told. The dominant frames of "othering" have deep roots on planet white supremacy (capitalist-hetero-patriarchal-ableist) but are not exclusive to that worldview.

Worldviews and frames also have long lives, frequently much longer than the stories that drive daily attention and focus. For the past four decades, right-wing billionaire Charles Koch has mounted an explicit attack on worldviews friendly to collectivism and public forms of government. As times change, this has led to attacks on healthcare, unions, and government regulations, but the underlying frames (anti-collective and pro-individual) remain.

In the domineering presence of destructive frames and worldviews, insurgent stories-those from the bottom and the cracks-have mastered the art of anti-gravity. They wiggle and dance their way through, and in their irreverence for the natural laws of the day, they destabilize the frames of oppressive and domineering worldviews. They carry with them a different set of frames and worldviews. As Arundhati Roy famously described, "Another world is not only possible, she's on the way, and on a quiet day, if you listen carefully you can hear her breathe."

These stories (which are also actions and lives) are not pure, nor perfectly aligned, and they may not even demonstrate short-term success or material outcomes. But as Robin D. G. Kelley describes, collective social movements are "incubators of new knowledge," where the "most radical ideas often grow out of a concrete intellectual engagement with the problems of aggrieved populations confronting systems of oppression." Engagements by groups and individuals to value life, liberation, and belonging create a wide field of stories. When these stories are studied and listened to carefully, patterns emerge. These patterns reveal frames, a small selection of which make up this collection.

"The world we want is one where many worlds fit."

My own worldview which shapes this collection draws from the Zapatista idea that, "The world we want is one where many worlds fit." In this way, this collection is not meant to be prescriptive-e.g., "use these frames to tell these stories in this way!"-nor, static-e.g., "this frame will help win, let's use it for all our work." Instead, stories, frames, and worldviews constantly inform and shape each other. For example, a person's worldview rooted in belonging may add important frames around gender and intersectionality through the concrete actions of trans women of color advocating for prison abolition-as was my own experience through the work of the Transgender, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project. Stories can and do shape frames and worldviews, just as worldviews and frames shape stories. As storytellers, there is a responsibility to understand the dynamic relationship between these levels when we choose which stories to tell and how we choose to tell them. We are never telling stories only on one level.

As an interdisciplinary creative person who works across issues, my interest in this book is in strengthening the connections between seemingly disparate stories through more clearly articulating shared frames. Mycelia are the underground branching parts of a fungus from which mushrooms spring when conditions are right. From a human point of view, the mushroom is the purpose of the mycelia. But from a fungal point of view, mushrooms spread the spores in order to grow the mycelia. For some people then, it may come as a surprise that one of the largest known organisms in the world is a 2,400 year old honey fungus in Oregon that is only seen when the conditions are right and lead to the appearance of thousands of mushrooms. As storytellers, I believe our work is similar: cultivating the branching parts that persist past the lifecycle of individual mushrooms, and producing the mushrooms that lead to the growth of the mycelium.

... Regardless of the success of a single campaign, action, or story, if we are also aware of our framing, we strengthen aligned future actions and stories.

How then does each story we tell help to grow mycelium that celebrate and support life, liberation, and belonging? In our isolated efforts, we may or may not be successful. But regardless of the success of a single campaign, action, or story, if we are also aware of our framing, we strengthen aligned future actions and stories. The 1969-1971 occupation of Alcatraz by the group Indians of All Tribes did not ultimately revert that land to Native control. But it did brilliantly (and playfully) articulate a frame of land-based self-determination that reverberates from the Occupy movement to Standing Rock to the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign. Do these other efforts claim that story as foundational to their work? I do not know. But taken together, these stories help each other make sense in a world that violently rages against territorial self-determination. These stories reimagine and retell the story outside of a frame of private property.

This collection is meant to strengthen the vision of a broad conception of storytellers: writers, painters, policymakers, educators, musicians, organizers, faith leaders, and funders, among many others. In our shared and disparate work we are all creating and we are all constantly telling stories. And these stories, whether we reflect on it or not, replicate and reinforce frames. Are these frames supportive of architectures of dominance or liberation? Of a worship of death or a celebration of life? A fear of the other or a struggle for a beloved community? Rarely is life so simple as to give a roadmap to these answers, and even more rarely is the answer one or the other-a yes or a no. This collection is not a roadmap, but a reflection of frames that live in the stories, actions, and lives of people who value life, liberation, and belonging. Our task as storytellers is to amplify the natural laws that make our anti-gravity stories make perfect, plain, and common sense.

This is a collection of ten images created by various artists, each accompanied by additional drawings (the small black ones) created by attendees of the 2017 Othering & Belonging Conference, as well as quotes that illustrate the theme of each image.

Transition
Art by Firelei Báez
"Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time. Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, which is the only fact we have. It seems to me that one ought to rejoice in the fact of death-ought to decide, indeed, to earn one's death by confronting with passion the conundrum of life."
James Baldwin

"All that you touch
You Change.
All that you Change
Changes you.
The only lasting truth
is Change."
Octavia Butler

"We should not be waiting for singular charismatic leaders to tell us what direction to go, but instead be like midwives, supporting the birth of movements that are already emerging." Grace Lee Boggs "At stake is not only how we fight to win, but also how prepared we are for victories. Prepare to win means be ready for the morning after."
Ruth Wilson Gilmore

"Take it to the bridge."
James Brown

Liberation
Art by Nicole Dixon
Nina Simone: Well what's freedom? What's free to me? Same thing to you as it is to me, you tell me.

Interviewer: No, you tell me.
Simone: It's just a feeling. It's just a feeling, it's like how do you tell somebody how it feels to be in love? How are you going to tell anybody who hasn't been in love what it feels to be in love? You can describe things but you can't tell him. But you know it when it happens. That's what I mean by free. I've had a couple times on stage when I've really felt free and that's something else, that's really something else. Oh, I'll tell you what freedom is to me. No fear. I mean really no fear.

Belonging
Art by Shanna Strauss
Commons

"Why is it easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism?"
Multiple attributions (Fredric Jameson and Slavoj Žižek)

Interconnection

"We are a part of everything that is beneath us, above us, and around us. Our past is our present, our present is our future, and our future is seven generations past and present." Haudenosaunee Teaching

Abundance
Art by Evan Bissell
"This could be our revolution:
To love what is plentiful
as much as
what's scarce."
Alice Walker

"Joy, my love, joy in all things,
in what falls and what flourishes.
Joy in today and yesterday,
the day before and tomorrow."
Pablo Neruda

Sacred
Art by Jewell Praying Wolf James and Evan Bissell, based on a photo by Paul Anderson
"It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
It is our duty to win.
We must love each other and support each other.
We have nothing to lose but our chains."
Assata Shakur

Curiosity

" 'A'ohe pau ka 'ike i ka hālau ho'okahi
All knowledge is not taught in one school
One can learn from many sources."
M.K. Pukui (Hawaiian proverb)

"And we don't come to you to tell you what you should do nor to give you orders...
What we are going to do is listen to your thoughts."
EZLN (Zapatista Army of National Liberation)

"Wherever there is a problem, there are already people acting on the problem in some fashion."
Allied Media Projects

"The starting-point of critical elaboration is the consciousness of what one really is, and is'knowing thyself' as a product of the historical process to date, which has deposited in you an infinity of traces, without leaving an inventory. Therefore it is imperative at the outset to compile such
an inventory."
Antonio Gramsci

Play

"Reason, I sacrifice you to the evening breeze. You call yourself the language of order? For me it is the lash of the whip. But oh, there is the hoarse contraband of my laughter, my treasure of saltpepper! For we hate you, you and your reason, for we appeal to the dementia praecox of the flowering absurdity of a stubborn cannibalism. Our treasures, then, are the madness that remembers, the madness that roars, the madness that sees, the madness that breaks loose."
Aimé Césaire

"The Church says: the body is a sin.
Science says: the body is a machine.
Advertising says: The body is a business.
The Body says: I am a fiesta."
Eduardo Galeano

Place
Art by Evan Bissell based on a photo by Paul Anderson

A Note from the Creator, Evan Bissell

This book came to life through a partnership with the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at UC Berkeley, along with the eight artists who contributed the original works in frames for life, liberation, and belonging.

While studying public health and city planning at UC Berkeley, I was drawn to the Haas Institute's multidisciplinary approach, clear attention to frames and narratives, and research that integrated with and supported grassroots organizing efforts. The Institute's 2017 Othering & Belonging Conference seemed an ideal place to bring this project I had been developing to life and public expression.

With the Haas Institute's experience and expertise helping to shape the process, particularly Rachelle Galloway-Popotas, we expanded the focus of the project, invited in an advisory team (Marvin K. White and Angelica Lopez) and imagined two additional interactive forms, including an installation at the 2017 conference and an online component (see otheringandbelonging.org). All of this allowed for a collective evolution of the project. For the Haas Institute, the project represents another piece of a multilayered approach to their work in advancing social change, integrating the power of arts and culture work to expand their own frame of belonging.

The contributing artists are people that I have worked with in the past, and/or whose work I respect for its attention to process, outcome, and vision. See the end of the book for more information on the works. Please seek them out and support their work as powerful storytellers.

The quotes are drawn from a diverse set of sources, but there are many, many more that could be included as well. The vast majority were chosen because they are passages that rattle and stick in my brain-some for many years. Any blind spots or errors that appear are my own, and I welcome feedback. - Evan Bissell

About

Editor and Designer
Evan Bissell facilitates participatory art and research projects that support equitable systems and liberatory processes. Evan is the lead creator of freedoms-ring.org and knottedline.com, and has created collaborative public works from New York to San Francisco. Collaborative projects and solo works have been mobilized for grassroots and policy efforts, and exhibited at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Alcatraz Island, and the CUNY Graduate Center, among others. He teaches about art and social change at UC Berkeley. Evan holds a Master in Public Health and Master in City Planning from UC Berkeley.

Advisory Team
Rachelle Galloway-Popotas directs the communications efforts at the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at UC Berkeley, and oversees its editorial, visual, and public event and outreach efforts.
Angelica Lopez is an artist, organizer with the Xicana Moratorium Coalition, and student at San Francisco State University.
Marvin K. White, MDiv, is a community-based artist, public theologian, and author of four collections of poetry (www.marvinkwhite.com).

Contributing Artists
Susu Attar, Firelei Báez, Micah Bazant, Evan Bissell, Brett Cook, Nicole Dixon, Jewell Praying Wolf James, Fernando Marti, and Shanna Strauss

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Frames for Life, Liberation, & Belonging - Othering and Belonging

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Stories shape and reflect what is valued in a society; frames create the natural laws that give stories their gravity. Frames shape how a story is told: what is emphasized and deemphasized, included and excluded. If the frame is individualism, then unions, community land

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Grants for artists of color to imagine a racially just future with their communities.

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Join us in imagining a racially just Boston...

We have always lived in unprecedented times. Well before COVID-19, and especially now, artists of color know what is essential for the freedom and liberation of their communities.

Are you an ALAANA+ artist? (By ALAANA+ we mean: African, Latinx/a/o, Asian, Arab, Native American, Indigenous, First Peoples, Black, African American, Multi-racial, People of Color, Caribbean...)
Do you live and/or work in Boston, MA?
If yes, do you identify as a...

We want to support you, your creative practice, your artistic voice, and YOUR world-building vision in collaboration with your community.

We seek to support Boston-based artists of color (of all ages 14+) who are excited to bring to life their visions of a racially just society.

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We have always lived in unprecedented times. Well before COVID-19, and especially now, artists of color know what is essential for the freedom and liberation of their communities. Are you an ALAANA+ artist? (By ALAANA+ we mean: African, Latinx/a/o, Asian, Arab, Native American, Indigenous, First Peoples, Black, African American, Multi-racial, People of Color, Caribbean...)

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This is the Moment for Visionary Narratives

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This is the Moment for Visionary Narratives

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Essay by arienne maree brown

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There is how we tell a story, and then there is the story we tell.

The Detroit Narrative Agency is inventing new ways to tell community stories.

It feels like new media platforms launch every day, but are only being used to tell the same old stories, enforcing the current limits of our collective imagination.

And it is clearer than ever that we are currently trapped inside the imagination of people who are not committed to a future that includes us, or even happens on this planet.

There is a body of people across the globe whose ancestors organized the world around a few core ideas that are incompatible with human survival on earth, who imagined themselves as white royalty amongst black and brown masses, who bent policy, economy and culture to realize this imagined supremacy.

And now we are in it, and it is in us.

Now we need to be the storytellers of the next phase of the future. And we need to concern ourselves not just with the content of our liberating imaginings, but with how we will imagine together.

Octavia Butler predicted this moment in her Parables: a president elected on a platform of white nationalism, misogyny and anti-intellectualism - even down to the slogan "Make America Great Again."

Butler was a black science fiction writer, and her vision was radical. She was able to imagine the patterns of the news cycles unfurling in the future, to tell us about the most likely outcomes, and the new problems we would face. This year, a decade after her death, her stories are painfully coming to life.

The good news is that her imagination and research provide us with survival techniques that storytellers across all platforms can study.

Those who own the companies that shape our communications look like those who run the banks, military and government, the sheriffs and police chiefs. Younger, but still white, male, concerned with "diversity" as an afterthought or an act of benevolence, celebrating themselves as innovators. They are millionaires and billionaires slowly consolidating all the ways we build patterns with each other, accountable primarily to themselves and their investors.

So in addition to the work of building the muscle of our imaginations, we must build the pathways by which we reach other, make sure we can hear each other beyond the status quo.

In terms of telling our own stories and generating new questions and problems that are relevant for currently marginalized peoples, Walidah Imarisha and I edited Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction from Social Justice Movements. We asked people who are organizing in a variety of movements in the US to write visionary fiction about the horizons they see.

"Visionary fiction" speaks of art that is self-aware, that understands there is no such thing as neutral - art either advances or regresses our evolution, justice and liberation. We use the term to identify work that centers marginalized communities, understands change as a bottom-up process, challenges single hero narratives and moves beyond the binary of dystopia/utopia. It was important for us to gather these stories from people doing the work, because we believe that all organizing is science fiction, shaping the future to be a just and liberated place.

We aren't the beginning of visionary fiction, and Butler isn't the only one who was writing it. The work of Samuel Delaney, Steven Barnes, Nalo Hopkinson, Walter Mosley (particularly Futureland), Sheree Renee Thomas (the Dark Matter anthologies), Nnedi Okorafor, Ursula Le Guin, Tananarive Due, Doris Lessig, Marge Piercy and many others fits this category.

But imagination is only the first step. We have to get our stories to the people. Now there are many ways to do so.

We are engaged in a narrative shifting experiment in Detroit right now called the Detroit Narrative Agency (DNA). Supported by Just Films at the Ford Foundation, we are supporting a cohort of ten filmmakers - from first timers to experienced camera people - to create fiction and documentary moving image projects that challenge existing narratives about Detroit.

To grow this project from community soil, we asked Detroiters what stories they were tired of hearing (anti-blackness, anti-poor, that the city is a blank canvas or a murder hub, or needs white saviors) and which stories they wanted to hear much more of (stories of black resistance and resilience, long-term survival and visions of the future). We then held an open application process shaped by that longing.

The body that selected the projects was made up of local artists and activists who are compelled by the same narrative needs as the applicants. The cohort is mostly black, mostly lifelong Detroiters, with balance in the areas of gender, sexuality and age. They are excited to be in each other's presence, and are teaching and supporting each other.

We collectivized the purchasing of equipment so our cohort can use high-quality equipment to make their community-rooted narratives, because we recognize that these days aesthetic really determines which pieces get watched and shared with others. We are generating beautiful, well-structured projects.

We have matched each project up with mentors in the industry and are hosting a series of workshops for the cohort, each one paired with public events so that this expertise and wisdom is available to the whole community. We are exploring distribution options that will bring these projects to the public for feedback and interactions that create more possibilities for Detroit. Our projects will culminate with completed budgets, timelines, community engagement/impact strategies, scripts/screenplays and trailer/teasers that will allow them to leverage this opportunity for full project funding.

Each of our choices around who to select and how to identify community priorities is a precision technology that increases the relevance of the media that our cohort will produce.

Only after we were excited by the stories our filmmakers want to tell, stories that challenge the existing paradigms of power and patterns of gentrification in the city of Detroit, only after we were certain we had changemakers at the table, did we get excited by the new ways our cohort wants to tell its stories.

One shift in the use of media is where our filmmakers want to take audiences - disrupting the "talking head in an office = expert" trend. Who is Sitting on Our Land is going to take viewers into the field to speak with farmers who face displacement in the city. Riding with Aunt DDot is going to take us onto the bus lines to see how people are surviving, uplifting each other and traversing the city.

We have three narrative projects exploring future Detroit through the eyes of young black people shaping and changing the world - Ada, The Growers, and When It All Changed, an experiment in interactive virtual reality, bringing viewers into a distant future articulated by Detroit youth.

So much of the work I do with DNA, and in Detroit, and anywhere I facilitate or write, is about emergent strategy - strategies that allow us to be in right relationship with change and to use everything available to us to shape the future for justice and liberation.

Even when the future appears to be frightening, there is opportunity inside it for us to advance our humanity, to deepen our relationship to this planet, to tell new stories of collaboration and miraculous evolutions.

This has to be an exciting time. Our work as creatives, filmmakers, activists, and storytellers, is to answer Toni Cade Bambara's call "to make the revolution irresistible" and, I would argue, to sustain us when the odds don't appear to be in our favor. We must deploy every tool in the box for the sake of ourselves and future generations.

Read responses to this piece

How Can We Use New Storytelling Tools to Explore Visionary Futures?
by M. Asli Dukan

Building Visionary Non-fiction By, About and for Our Communities
by Michele Stephenson

Immerse is an initiative of Tribeca Film Institute, MIT Open DocLab and The Fledgling Fund. Learn more about our vision for the project .

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This is the Moment for Visionary Narratives

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It feels like new media platforms launch every day, but are only being used to tell the same old stories, enforcing the current limits of our collective imagination. And it is clearer than ever that we are currently trapped inside the imagination of people who are not committed to a future that includes us, or even happens on this planet.

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Participant Copy _Session 1 on Block (1)

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OLO Report:  Racial Equity in Government Decision-Making

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OLO Report:  Racial Equity in Government Decision-Making

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America Protests Police Brutality and Systemic Racism | The Daily Social Distancing Show

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No, I Won't Stop Saying "White Supremacy"

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No, I Won't Stop Saying "White Supremacy"

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White people like me should use the term because it shifts the race problem to us, where it belongs.

I am white. When I give talks on what it means to be white in a society deeply separate and unequal by race, I explain that white people who are born and raised in the U.S. grow up in a white supremacist culture. I include myself in this claim, as I enumerate all of the ways in which I was socialized to be complicit in racism. I am not talking about hate groups, of which I am obviously not a member. And no, I don't hate white people. I am addressing most of the audience to whom I am speaking, white progressives like me.

If it surprises and unsettles my audience that I use this term to refer to us and not them, even after I have explained how I am using it, then they have not been listening. That recognition should trigger some sense of urgency that continuing education is needed.

Yet invariably, a white person raises the objection: I really don't like that term! I associate it with the KKK and other white nationalist groups. Why can't you use a different term? As a classic example of white fragility, rather than stretching into a new framework, I am asked by a white participant to use language that is more comfortable and maintains their current worldview.

White supremacy captures the all-encompassing centrality and assumed superiority of people defined and perceived as white.

Many people, especially older white people, associate the term white supremacy with extreme and explicit hate groups. However, for sociologists, white supremacy is a highly descriptive term for the culture we live in; a culture which positions white people and all that is associated with them (whiteness) as ideal.

White supremacy captures the all-encompassing centrality and assumed superiority of people defined and perceived as white, and the practices based upon that assumption. White supremacy is not simply the idea that whites are superior to people of color (although it certainly is that), but a deeper premise that supports this idea-the definition of whites as the norm or standard for human, and people of color as an inherent deviation from that norm.

Thus, when race scholars use the term white supremacy, we do not use it the same way as mainstream culture does. Nor, do we use it to indicate majority-versus-minority relations. Power is not dependent on numbers but on position. We use the term to refer to a socio-political economic system of domination based on racial categories that benefit those defined and perceived as white. This system rests on the historical and current accumulation of structural power that privileges, centralizes, and elevates white people as a group. If, for example, we look at the racial breakdown of the people who control our institutions, we see that in 2016-2017:

Congress: 90% white

Governors: 96% white

Top military advisers: 100% white

President and vice president: 100% white

Current POTUS cabinet: 91% white

People who decide which TV shows we see: 93% white

People who decide which books we read: 90% white

People who decide which news is covered: 85% white

People who decide which music is produced: 95% white

Teachers: 83% white

Full-time college professors: 84% white

Owners of men's pro-football teams: 97% white

These numbers are not a matter of "good people" versus "bad people." They are a matter of power, control, and dominance by a racial group with a particular self-image, worldview, and set of interests in the position to disseminate that image and worldview and protect those interests across the entire society.

For a clear example of what it means to have institutional control and use it to the advantage of your group, we can look to women's suffrage in the U.S. Only white men could grant women suffrage because white men controlled the government (and all of the other institutions that allowed them to disseminate and enforce patriarchy across society). They still do. While women could be prejudiced against men and discriminate against individual men in isolated cases, women as a group could not deny all men their civil rights. Yet men as a group could deny all women their civil rights. Once white men finally granted women the right to vote, only white men could then deny access to that right for women (and men) of color. White people also write the history that tells us that "women" were granted the right to vote, and erases the reality that that access was not granted equally across race. The term white supremacy allows us to capture the all-encompassing and multi-dimensional nature of white control.

While the dominant racial/ethnic group in other cultures may not be white, there is nonetheless a global dimension of white supremacy.

While the dominant racial/ethnic group in other cultures may not be white (for example, the Chinese rule Tibetans, and the Tibetans may experience racism from the Chinese), there is nonetheless a global dimension of white supremacy. Through mass media, corporate culture, advertising, United States-owned manufacturing, military presence, historical colonialist relations, missionary work, and other means, white supremacy is also circulated globally. One of the most potent ways this is disseminated is through media representations, which have a profound impact on how we see the world. Given the role of media in modern life, films shape our ideas about romance, conflict, family, friendship, sexuality, criminality, belonging, and otherness.

Those who write and direct films are our cultural narrators; the stories they tell shape our worldviews. Given that most white people live in racial isolation from people of color (and Black people in particular) and have very few authentic cross-racial relationships, white people are deeply influenced by the racial messages in films. Of the 100 top grossing films worldwide in 2016, 95 were directed by white Americans (99 of them by men). That is an incredibly homogenous group. Because these men are most likely at the top of the social hierarchy (in terms of race, class and gender), they are the least likely to have a variety of authentic egalitarian cross-racial relationships. Yet they are in the position to represent the racial "other." Their representations of the "other" are thereby extremely narrow and problematic, and reinforced over and over.

Take, for example, the Jackie Robinson story. Robinson is often celebrated as "the first African American to break the color line and play in major-league baseball." While Robinson was certainly an amazing ballplayer, this story line depicts Robinson as racially special; a black man who broke that color line himself. The subtext is that Robinson finally had what it took to play with whites, as if no black athlete before him was strong enough to compete at that level. Imagine if instead, the story went something like this: "Jackie Robinson, the first black man whites allowed to play major-league baseball." This is a critical distinction because no matter how fantastic a player Robinson was, he simply could not play in the major leagues if whites-who control the institution-did not allow it. Were he to walk onto the field before being granted permission by white owners and policymakers, the police would have removed him.

White supremacy is rendered invisible while other political systems are identified and studied.

Narratives of racial exceptionality obscure the reality of ongoing institutional white control while reinforcing the ideologies of individualism and meritocracy. They also do whites a disservice by obscuring the white allies behind the scenes who worked hard and long to open the field to African American players. These allies could serve as much needed role-models for other whites (although we also need to acknowledge that in the case of the desegregation of baseball, there was an economic incentive for these allies).

White supremacy as a powerful ideology that promotes the idea of whiteness as the ideal for humanity is especially relevant in countries with a history of colonialism by Western nations. Charles Mills (1997) describes white supremacy as "...the unnamed political system that has made the modern world what it is today" (p.1). He notes that while white supremacy has shaped Western political thought for hundreds of years, it is rarely named. In this way, white supremacy is rendered invisible while other political systems-socialism, capitalism, fascism-are identified and studied. In fact, much of its power is drawn from its invisibility-the taken-for-granted aspects of white superiority that underwrite all other political and social contracts. White resistance to the term white supremacy prevents us from examining this system. If we can't identify it, we can't interrupt it.

Naming white supremacy changes the conversation because it shifts the problem to white people, where it belongs. It also points us in the direction of the life-long work that is uniquely ours; challenging our complicity with and investment in racism. Yes, this work includes all white people, even white progressives. None of us have missed being shaped by the white supremacy embedded in our culture. Current research in implicit bias demonstrates that all people have racial bias, that most of it is unconscious, and that it does manifest in our actions. Because white people control the institutions, our racial bias is embedded and infused across society and works to the advantage of all white people, regardless of intentions, awareness, or self-image. Our task is not to exempt ourselves from the impact of these conditioning forces, but rather to continually seek to identify how these forces shape us and manifest in our specific lives, and interrupt those manifestations.

The term white supremacy seems to be especially resisted by those whites who marched in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's.

The term white supremacy seems to be especially resisted by those whites who marched in the 1960s Civil Rights movement. For those of you who did march, I understand that you may have strong negative associations with the term. So let me acknowledge that your involvement was critical. I and many others are grateful for your activism. The racism you marched against was coming from white people (as it always does). In that, it was our problem, as it always has been. We needed to get involved. And precisely because our voices have been granted more legitimacy under white supremacy, we needed to use those voices to challenge the apartheid of the time. I sincerely thank all of the white people who put themselves on the line to protest.

Having said that, we can now move on to the next point: marching in the 60s did not certify you as racism-free for the rest of your lives, with no re-certification necessary, ever. Nor did it free you of any need for further accountability to people of color. And might there have been some of the more subtle (to whites) forms of racism perpetrated even as you marched? I am not talking about fire hoses on protesters or beatings at the lunch counter forms of racism. Of course you were, and are, against those explicit forms. I am talking about the white progressive forms of racism that support these more explicit forms; the white savior syndrome you likely brought with you (how could you not - you are a product of your culture), the condescension and patronizing, the marveling at how articulate the Black folks were, even as you took over their movement. I am talking about the reasons that have led folks to do things differently today; why we have Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ). BLM leads, and SURJ is expected to take its direction from BLM.

If we take a closer look at the stories we tell about Jackie Robinson, ourselves, and our activism, we see that these stories mask white supremacy by rendering invisible whites, white advantage, and the racist policies and practices of the institutions we control. This is what we need to make visible, understand, and interrupt.

So, no, we won't stop using the term white supremacy.

It's not on those of us involved in the movement today to change our language for further white comfort. In fact, that is the height of white entitlement. Rather, it is on white people to break out of our comfort zones, realize that things have changed, and initiate our continuing education and skill-building. The internet is over-flowing with excellent guides on how to do this. The inability (or refusal to do so) functions as a form of resistance to change and protection of a very limited and problematic world view. This resistance is not benign; it functions to hold the current racial order in place. No neutral stance exists. We need to move on and move forward, because we are calling it what it is: white supremacy.
This article was originally published by The Good Men Project. It has been edited for YES! Magazine.

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No, I Won't Stop Saying "White Supremacy" - Yes! Magazine

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White people like me should use the term because it shifts the race problem to us, where it belongs. I am white. When I give talks on what it means to be white in a society deeply separate and unequal by race, I explain that white people who are born and raised in the U.S.

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Speak Up at School:  How to Respond to Everyday Prejudice, Bias, and Stereotypes

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Speak Up at School:  How to Respond to Everyday Prejudice, Bias, and Stereotypes

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It wasn't too long ago that a lot of people were talking about a post-racial America. We had elected a Black president for the first time, and then went ahead and re-elected him four years later, and the country was feeling pretty good about itself.

While Barack Obama's presidency was indeed a profound and meaningful mark of true progress, racism, of course, never really went away. The presence of a Black president, hockey star, or movie-franchise superhero, however welcome and exciting, cannot reverse centuries of racial injustice.

In fact, racism is built right into every level of our society in ways that might surprise you.

Racism at Every Level of Society

Racism of this kind, racism that infects the very structure of our society, is called systemic racism. And at first glance, it may be difficult to detect.

Since the election of Donald Trump, hate crimes have been on the rise. White supremacists have been emboldened. Anti-immigrant rhetoric has intensified. We condemn these awful examples of prejudice and bias and hate, but systemic racism is something different. It's less about violence or burning crosses than it is about everyday decisions made by people who may not even think of themselves as racist. As sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva has said, "The main problem nowadays is not the folks with the hoods, but the folks dressed in suits."

Systemic racism persists in our schools, offices, court system, police departments, and elsewhere. Why? Think about it: when white people occupy most positions of decision-making power, people of color have a difficult time getting a fair shake, let alone getting ahead.
We all have to do a better job of calling out systemic racism. Here are seven ways we know that it's real.
WEALTH

According to one study, white families hold 90% of the national wealth, Latino families hold 2.3%, and Black families hold 2.6%. Not only that, the Great Recession hit minority families particularly hard, and the wealth gap has increased. Think about this: for every $100 white families earn in income, Black families earn just $57.30. That's almost unbelievable-and it's a huge racial-justice issue.

EMPLOYMENT

It's next to impossible to build wealth without steady and rewarding employment. But the Black unemployment rate has been consistently twice that of whites over the past 60 years, no matter what has been going on with the economy (whether it's been up or down). Hmm, maybe higher education would help with that? Well, according to the data, Black people with college degrees are twice as likely to be unemployed as all other graduates. That may be because, as one study found, job applicants with white-sounding names get called back about 50% more of the time than applicants with Black-sounding names, even when they have identical resumes. (This seems to be a widespread problem: even guests with distinctively Black names get less positive reviews from property owners on Airbnb.)

EDUCATION

Let's discuss education a little more in depth. If you thought that preschool, at least, was a racism-free zone, well... consider that while Black children constitute 18% of preschoolers nationwide, they make up nearly 50% of suspensions. When all age groups are examined, Black students are three times more likely to be suspended than white students, even when their infractions are similar. Overall, Black students represent 16% of student enrollment and 27% of students referred to law enforcement. And once Black children are in the criminal justice system, they are 18 times more likely than white children to be sentenced as adults.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Given this, perhaps it should not come as a surprise that even though, as we said, Black people make up 13% of the population, they represent about 40% of the prison population. Why is that? Perhaps because if a Black person and a white person each commit a crime, the Black person has a better chance of being arrested. It's also true that, once arrested, Black people are convicted more often than white people. And for many years, laws assigned much harsher sentences for using or possessing crack, for example, compared to cocaine. Finally, when Black people are convicted, they are about 20% more likely to be sentenced to jail time, and typically see sentences 20% longer than those for whites who were convicted of similar crimes. And as we know, a felony conviction means, in many states, that you lose your right to vote. Right now in America, more than 7.4% of the adult African American population is disenfranchised (compared to 1.8% of the non-African American population).

HOUSING

When the government sought to make mortgages more affordable back in the 1930s, thereby jumpstarting the epoch of suburban living, the Home Owner's Loan Corporation (and thereafter private banks) ranked neighborhoods all around the country, giving high marks to all-white neighborhoods and marking those with minorities in red as risky investments. Redlining, which essentially barred Black people and other minorities from sharing in the American Dream and building wealth like their white counterparts, was officially outlawed in the '60s, but the practice really never went away. In fact, during the Great Recession, banks routinely and purposely guided Black home buyers toward subprime loans. A recent study demonstrated that people of color are told about and shown fewer homes and apartments than whites. Black ownership is now at an all-time low (42%, compared to 72% for whites).

SURVEILLANCE

If you're white, you don't usually need to worry about being monitored by the police. But the day-to-day reality for African Americans is quite different. More than half of all young Black Americans know someone, including themselves, who has been harassed by the police. Statistics also show that Black drivers are about 30% more likely than whites to be pulled over by the police. (So African Americans can expect to be monitored wherever they go-but did you know that they can't even expect to safely cross the street? Black people are twice as likely to die in pedestrian accidents than whites, perhaps because, according to one study, motorists are less likely to stop for Black people in the crosswalk.) And of course it's well-known that Muslims are under increasing and often illegal surveillance.

HEALTHCARE

African Americans in particular face discrimination in the world of healthcare too. A 2012 study found that a majority of doctors have "unconscious racial biases" when it comes to their Black patients. Black Americans are far more likely than whites to lack access to emergency medical care. The hospitals they go to tend to be less well funded, and staffed by practitioners with less experience. But even Black doctors face discrimination: they are less likely than their similarly credentialed white peers to receive government grants for research projects. And it seems that facing a lifetime of racism leaves African Americans vulnerable to developing stress-related health issues that can lead to chronic issues later in life.

Let's be clear: systemic racism is a corrosive and widespread problem in our society, and we all need to do a better job of confronting it-in our towns, in our neighborhoods, and in ourselves.

Want to be part of the solution? Here's how you can take action:

Watch the totally amazing video below from our friends at Demos about the roots of systemic racism

Start a conversation. Once you know the truth, it's hard to keep it to yourself. So tell a friend, a sibling, a roommate, your kooky uncle...that systemic racism is real, and we all need to be fighting to end it.

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Yes, systemic racism is real. And people of color - African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and other minorities - face it every day. We still have a lot of work to do, America. The good news: by speaking up about it, you can be part of the solution.

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Thanks to recent events, many people have felt motivated to march in the streets, call their Congressional representatives, or even make protest art. People who have never seen themselves as activists are now feeling the need to do something. Veteran activists are facing the challenge of a renewed effort without suffering burnout. Many of us are feeling a sense of fatigue, after months and months of threats to civil liberties, human rights, and the integrity of our institutions. At such a time, we all need to know how to sustain activism over the long run.

Mindfulness offers a way.

For many of us, mindfulness is more than an individualistic way of reducing stress. As Thich Nhat Hanh teaches, making peace begins within ourselves, but contemplation leads to compassion, and compassion involves taking action to address suffering. This work to transform the world through social, political, economic, or environmental change is activism.

Here are three principles of sustainable activism drawn from the inspirational teachings of Grace Lee Boggs, a lifelong activist until she passed away in 2016 at the age of 100. Boggs spoke of a cultural revolution in which we are transforming how we view ourselves, our surroundings, and our institutions. She advocated making a life, not just a living, by feeding ourselves, educating our children, and taking more responsibility for each other and our communities.

1. Come alive

Recent research shows how many people are motivated by the pursuit of meaning-and for many of them, activism is the most intensely meaningful work they'll ever take on. It is awakened by a sense of being called to do the work-and it is sustained by coming alive with the feeling of finding meaning in one's work.

Boggs teaches that activism means seeing that "we are the leaders" and that we can be the change we want to see in the world. That doesn't mean we take on the entire burden of change to ourselves; it means that we find a role to play. There are many different forms of activism, and each person can contribute according to their abilities, thinking globally and acting locally.

While there are self-defined or self-styled activists, everyone in their daily practice has both the ability and responsibility to change the way we relate individually and collectively to each other and to our social world. Mindfulness practice enables us to know who we are and what we can do and then to do it.

This can be as simple as mindful breathing, focusing attention on your breath, inhaling and exhaling, especially when you're feeling particularly stressed or anxious. Nothing will make you more aware of being alive than counting your own breaths!

2. Connect

© Flickr / WisPolitics.com / CC BY-SA 2.0

The research to date says that social connection is the single biggest predictor of personal happiness-and activism is nothing without a sense of connection. It is sustained by uniting with others in the struggle, reminding us that we are not alone. Indeed, studies also suggest that our feelings of connection don't just make us feel good, they make us do good acts.

Connecting with those we perceive as enemies is also crucial. We must resist injustice, and we must resist giving in to the destructive separation of ourselves from others by dividing people as "us" and "them."

Mindful meditation may enable us to see others clearly and listen deeply, making us aware of our interconnections with all beings. There is a specific kind of meditation called loving-kindness that can help enhance that sense of connection, including compassion for those we regard as enemies or those who have harmed us.

Connecting also means not abandoning the system, but instead seeing ourselves as part of it. Boggs reminds us that you cannot change any society unless you take responsibility for it, unless you see yourself as belonging to it, and responsible for changing it.

3. Care

Activism springs from caring-and it calls us to widen our circles of compassion to include all creatures and the earth itself.

That compassion must start with ourselves. Mindful self-compassion is not about letting yourself off the hook. As spiritual activists of many traditions-such as Thomas Merton, Mahatma Gandhi, and the Dalai Lama-have taught, cultivating compassion for ourselves is what allows us to be truly compassionate to others. Indeed, research suggests that mindfulness meditation practices may increase compassionate responses to suffering. That same research provides evidence that compassion also motivates us to take action in the world.

As psychologist Paul Ekman has argued, anger has a place in activism. But anger is not sustainable; anger burns too hot for a lifetime. Boggs saw tending gardens, caring for the self, and caring for others as nourishing activism. Those acts of care are what will carry us through our most difficult times, as individuals and as a society.

While activism requires courage to act boldly for social change, it also demands acceptance of what we can't change. We need patience and understanding that it's a long haul and we're not the first ones who have tried to change the world. Making a peaceful and just world is not a one-time event but a sustained process tied to slow evolutionary change. Mindfulness practices can help us to remain present in the moment, engaging in the struggle, and grateful for the opportunity to serve.

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Thanks to recent events, many people have felt motivated to march in the streets, call their Congressional representatives, or even make protest art. People who have never seen themselves as activists are now feeling the need to do something. Veteran activists are facing the challenge of a renewed effort without suffering burnout.

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When Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term 30 years ago, it was a relatively obscure legal concept. Then it went viral.

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“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.”Audre Lorde

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IMPACT Vision and Overview

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Answer the following questions in your journal:

Was there a specific moment this week when you found yourself either Building, Blocking, or Being?  Write about it.

What space in the framework do you most often find yourself in? Is it the space you desire to be in? Why or why not?

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How to (Block, Build,) Be. by Annie Mahon

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Raw Mindfulness | Annie Mahon | Mindfulness Teacher

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How to (Block, Build,) Be. - Raw Mindfulness | Annie Mahon | Mindfulness Teacher

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I like to stay up with the news, for the most part. But, sometimes I get overwhelmed.

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Mira Jacob reads “Who Will Survive in America? Or 2017: A Horror Film”