vision

I'm realizing that my life is quite short

Really short

I'm here to let some gift flow through me

one drop in the ocean

gifts I've been bringing: experimentation, reaching out and towards the other, creative risk-taking, embodiment and embodied knowing, thinking of future generations, collectivism.

not knowing. trying. caring about friends. caring about those I don't know. playing. 

self-inquiry. wondering about power and my role in sharing power. getting educated by others. doing more experiments. 

gathering people to do all of the above.

writing and sharing my thoughts.

so if I were to choose how I want to be in community, it feels like knowing who I live by, creating relationships, helping folks dig deep in themselves and understand themselves, developing systems for understanding one another and sharing power. 

also - helping people do the amazing community work they already do.

the small community also connects across space - we all know the small community, whether that is a family, or a school, or a workplace, or a town. it's hard. it's hard heart work. 

and then there is the national and international narrative. how do we bring together. how do we do conflict well. what is just transition. 

THEATER for development contacts:

Ruth Yeo-Peterson

Nabra

Jehan

Tina L

John Scott

I want to be a part of building community

Community to me means people who stick together.  (caveat: we don't have to be in direct relationship with those who harm us)

who know that our fate depends on each other

I want to help people look at one another

Reach out to each other

Value the different gifts each person has

Share the care that all of us need

Support difference, and support greatness

which means supporting folks through conflict

I want to help people (and myself) connect with inner knowing

with their emotions and needs

with their own vision, their own passion, no matter how unbearable

I want folks to be able to advocate for themselves, and for others

Social Work

"The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships, and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being" (Statement of Ethical Principles, IFSW, 2012).

White people mantram

White people (me): other people's gains are not your losses. Repeat.

hope as power

I'm feeling like hope actually is power. I don't always feel that way.

Hmmm

I know what it’s like to be the one recommending nuance in the face of dogma. And I know what’s it’s like to be totally frustrated at the person doing that when it seems like they are making a situation I find unjust more vague. I’m just feeling this tension.

i cannot stop laughing at the quote below. with love and respect to the admired psychologists in my life (i'm even in the midst of studying aspects of it! which is where this quote comes from), and also to dancers everywhere (since this quote reminded me of some of the dance moments I've been a part of) - because both have such important gifts, and I LOOOVE both!!!! -

"Here was an entire profession that did nothing of practical import. Worse, it was a profession devoted to the study of things that interested nobody except other academic psychologists (and only 55 after years of being socialized into being interested)." - "The Unmaking of an Academic Psychologist" - Jonathan Shedler, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine

the woman in jerusalem

A woman in Jerusalem asked me did I think it was possible for a single human to create the principles and ideals to discipline (in the spirit of right livelihood) themselves? She asked this after learning that, not having been a part of a formal religion at any point in my life (which is perhaps the strangest identity marker a person can have in that land), I had developed a set of working principles to live by from my parents, my work places, the education I have sought out, my peers, and my experiences. On the one hand, I wanted to yell at her, "YES!" (I was feeling a bit vulnerable during that trip). Shouldn't we let other people and our earthly and spiritual experiences be what informs us, what we learn about life from, what tells us what matters? Listening to our intuition, having a discipline that evolves from the self, is subject to change, and isn't simply dictated by an outside force? I'm very inspired by the work and way of life of many peers who follow this openness to be changed.

But I also understood what she meant. It is hard to create self-discipline without an accountability group, for sure, and especially when you are always questioning the mantras. And then today I was thinking again about how our beliefs are so conditioned by our experiences (which are limited, of course) and by those of the folks who are around us. And then too, how often we create beliefs to match what we WANT to be true- or maybe better said, we interpret experiences, even filter our experiences, to match beliefs we are comfortable with. Kind of amazing, and scary. Sometimes I think we do this temporarily for healthy reasons- to cope with and titrate past trauma, for instance. But ultimately we need to open our hearts to a clearer seeing. All this to say that darn lady pushed ME out of my comfort zone and engaging duality may be the only tenant I'm sure of again. I actually find this really funny at present. And if anything it confirms that multiple truths can stand together. I'm writing as an invitation for your open thoughts and perspectives! (Anyone who'd like to reply, and as long as it's speech that is about you and your experience personally, and comes from a place of cultural and religious humility.)