I’ve been wrestling with words, thoughts, and feelings over the last few weeks, as I know so many of us have.
As one of my teachers, Ericka Hines, reminded many of us during a recent town hall, we need to “be humble and ready to fumble.”
And so here I go, ready to build a way forward.
I will start by saying unequivocally that Black Lives Matter. Systemic racism is deeply embedded in our society and in societies around the world. It is not enough to be “not racist” – we must be actively anti-racist.
These beliefs guide who I am and the work I do.
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In my last newsletter, I wrote about ritual. I wrote about finding ways to ground yourself and find a sense of rhythm. Rooted in Ritual began, and the world spun out more than it already had. I lost my sense of time, I lost my footing, though I mostly did not lose my rituals, and I’m grateful for that.
The truth is, the world has been spinning out, but something of this moment is asking us for more.
I sit here, weeks later, finally allowing myself to write to you even if the words aren’t perfect. I sit here knowing only that the work that we must do is not work for a week, or a month, or a year, but a lifetime. It is the work of being actively anti-racist. This shows up in all areas of our lives, and in all ways.
It is the internal work that we do to acknowledge the society that we were born into and to begin the long journey of unraveling it.
It is the interpersonal work of having difficult conversations with friends, family, and co-workers.
It is the external work of taking a look at the world around us and seeing it for what it is.
Think of it like a spiral that you continually travel, constantly changing your perspective and understanding as you learn and grow.
We cannot unravel and rebuild the world that has been built over four hundred years in a few weeks, nor a few months. That doesn’t mean we get an out though. It means we have to prepare ourselves so that we remain willing and able to do the uncomfortable and necessary work.
Over the last nine years, through many iterations, my business has always been rooted in creating change from a place of love and not fear, and in doing that work with a sense ease and not overwhelm. I ask myself, what does that look like now?
Love and not fear. This isn’t some spiritually bypassing statement that means we ignore the legitimate things to be feared and focus on love and light and hope it goes away. It is about rooting ourselves from a place of love. It is about not keeping ourselves small because we are fearful of doing the things that need to be done. It is about paying attention to our values and letting those guide us. We cannot scare ourselves or others into change. We make change because we want to love the world we live in, and we want those who we love (hint: everyone) to be able to live without the undue burden of fear.
Ease and not overwhelm. We are in a moment where overwhelm seems to come as a given. We are inundated with information. We convince ourselves that we need to throw everything we’ve got at every problem right now, today, without wasting another minute. And then what happens? We burn out, and fast, and the work that we need to be doing goes undone.
To be clear, this work is not easy, but that does not mean that we cannot set up an element of ease for ourselves.
With all of this in mind, I find myself circling back to ritual, to rhythm, to grounding, to preparing ourselves so that we can keep this work up for days, and weeks, and years, to come.
I ask you to take time this week to think about what this looks like for you. Because without this foundation, the learning, questioning, introspection, and ongoing action that our world needs from us right now will certainly overwhelm us, and we cannot, we must not, go back to how things were.
With Love and Gratitude,
Xandra
