WE are the work
What do I mean by “WE are the work”?
When I say that “we are the work,” what I mean is that WE have and always will be US; all part of the same species. I want to belong, to feel safe, to be respected, to experience connection, and to give and receive love. You too, right? Ensuring these fundamental rights is the work that WE must do, both individually and collectively.
Why does this start with learning to feel?
It is critical that we actually want and believe it is possible for us to feel better. Given the chaos of the world today, imagining a better reality likely feels very out of reach. Better is all about worth, both adequate living conditions and internal value. Thus, liberation from oppressive systems will happen only when enough of us are able to expand our emotional capacity to include radical love for our selves and each other.
How do we access to our feelings?
The world we live in teaches us not to feel—because emotions disrupt the hierarchical status quo. Thus, we are schooled to shove our emotions and just believe that some of us are more deserving than others in order to perpetuate. Now we must practice intentionally accessing our feelings. Instead of questioning what we think about a situation, we must question how we feel about it. This shift may seem insignificant, but it is not! Feeling activates the heart brain, as opposed to the head brain. In doing so, empathy is engaged and WE begin to see ourselves and each other with greater clarity.
Let’s get to work…
Art, action, and conversation are the three modalities I use to activate our ability to feel better. Sometimes the process is joyful, sometimes it is painful. It’s a messy combination. But avoiding feeling all the feels is exactly what’s impeding our access to a better reality. The work begins by sharing our stories, knowledge, skills, and care. In doing so, WE tap into the power of undoing the conditioning that is keeping us trapped in cycles of oppression.