photo by Mike Lynch
One of the exercises in CLP is about identifying and clarifying our own personal values. We each identify our top 5 values, writing one each on 5 index cards. Then we have to drop one… and another… until we are forced to choose our number 1, top value. What is your current One right now and why?
I would have to say truth-telling. Because truth-telling lays right next to what I yearn for most for myself, my people and the earth ~ Liberation! I’m pretty obsessed with seeing what is really going on and giving voice to that. There are layers and layers of lies and delusion all around and within us which cause suffering. I see the path to liberation, freedom and joy being through recognizing and telling the truth about how we’ve gotten into the state that we are in and hopefully choosing to rectify, to begin to choose right action. And by “right action” I mean action that is aligned with interconnection, wholeness.
What is one big, burning leadership question you are wrestling with these days?
How to stay true to the vision while also being inclusive. It is very difficult to move from vision to manifestation – very difficult – because there is always such a strong pull back to “normal,” or “comfort” or “familiar.” Therefore, radical action is often required as well as consistency. Sometimes our colleagues, compatriots or allies are not up to speed and we vision-holders are required to make the difficult choice to part ways. Sometimes that parting is for only a brief moment, like making a decision in a planning session that some of your closest allies disagree with. Other times the parting can be much more significant, having to let someone go from your faculty or deciding that a long cherished tradition that is held by a portion of your community must be put down. The bottom line is that sometimes, in staying true to a vision, justice leaders are called to take actions that will be experienced as hurtful or excluding.
What inspires you, gives you hope these days?
Breathing! Really. When I breathe in I immediately notice this earth and the endless offerings we are surrounded by. Then, I see a tree. Trees speak to me of staying power and of the commitment to reach up and down at the same moment. Then I look into a wrinkled face and imagine that that face was once buttery smooth, so much so that touching it was pure delight and now the wrinkles represent witnessing many revolutions of the earth around the sun, and touching those wrinkles is a great honor. And, it goes on.
On the other hand, just today on my screen, young revolutionaries demanding gun control and people stepping out to expose acts of sexual assault and a Black Lives Matters movement that puts self-care and self-love central at their gatherings and seeing the same right here at the CTCore Conference where they unveiled their powerful, liberatory CTCore Platform. Traveling with New Haven youth to Ghana and watching their faces as we stood beneath the statue of the great Dr. Kwame Nkruman. Oh, I could go on and on!
This work of transformational change is hard. Stepping in, stepping up, over time, can be draining – physically, intellectually, emotionally, psychically, spiritually. How do you recharge, restore, take care of yourself, rekindle your fire?
I am big on restoring… people will tell you. In very practical terms, I get my body worked on by those who bring those gifts. Have you ever noticed a little child who reaches their hand out to rub grandma’s feet while the other children would have no parts of that? There you go! Some folks are gifted healers and offer this much needed care and healing. And, I am here to receive!
It took me some time to realize that in doing this work of holding space for gatherings such as the Deeper Change Forums, or consulting to organizations that have tremendous dis-ease flowing through their system, we pick up a tremendous amount of stuff from the systems in which we work. Whether we categorize this “stuff” as emotional, mental, physical or spiritual, the bottom line is that there is build-up and it causes blockages that need to be released and our energy recharged.
As leaders, we must take this seriously. To not do so is no different than a medical doctor or dentist that does not wash their hands or instruments between patients. That might seem like an exaggeration to some, but for me, it is an absolute fact. We may not be aware of the residual effects and how the build-up impacts our work but I guarantee you that if we were to slow down and pay attention, we would begin to see the pattern. Better yet, just start a practice of deliberately engaging in self-care once a week (a meditation class, a Reiki session, foot reflexology, a drum circle) or even twice a month – say, one massage and one trip to sit at the shore for an hour – no cell phone. Let the data speak for itself.
What do you recommend to us, in each of these categories:
- Reading – Teaching to Transgress by Bell Hooks, Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk and Source by Joseph Jaworski.
- Listening – How I Got Over by The Roots (Explicit), I’m Not Bossy by Sinéad O’Connor, Waymaker by Tribe 1 – well, I’ve got to push my own group, right?
- Eating – My favorite restaurants keep closing but I love the food at Ninth Square Market Too.
- Watching – So many! Just saw Black Panther last night – revolutionary! Saw Toshi & Bernice Reagon’s Parable of the Sower: The Opera, a couple of weeks ago – if you see it playing anywhere within 200 miles of your location, get there!
- Laughing – There are several conscious (sort of) comedians that I like but they all go overboard so can’t recommend any of them. I enjoy the highlights from Trevor Noah’s The Daily Show to give myself a laugh in the morning.
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