Appreciating pleasure, extending compassion
Here we are at the beginning of March, a strange intersection of time and events for me, every year. On a personal note, March is when F and I return home to Montreal from Mérida. Such a bittersweet feeling. Add to that the upcoming time change, the Spring equinox, and the physical memory my body holds of this time in 2020 when our whole lives changed, and it becomes a confusing blend of grief and excitement.
On a more collective level, as Black History Month comes to an end, it’s hard not to be aware of the sudden silence. And with International Women’s Day just around the corner, it’s also hard not to feel the glare of white feminism, of trans-exclusionary radical feminism (TERF), and of all the intersections mainstream feminist narratives overlook or willfully omit.
I’ve been reflecting quite a bit on Fannie Lou Hamer’s famous speech, “Nobody’s Free Until Everybody’s Free.” As someone who deeply values my independence, I try never to take my freedom for granted. I have felt trapped in moments when my need for alone time was not respected or honored, and it reminds me that not all people are free to wander around alone safely and without judgement. It reminds me that International Women’s Day, Black History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Pride, and so many others are still extremely necessary.
As a lifelong devotee to mindfulness, I also appreciate the importance of balancing the awareness and the heaviness of these things with joy and celebration for the progress that has been made and for the joy marginalized bodies experience on a daily basis. Joy resources me to stay energized for the important work of advocacy. Joy gives me a reason to keep on keeping on for equity and equality. As anyone who has experienced the absolute pleasure of walking down the street with a friend, perusing a museum or a shop by yourself, or registering to take a college or university class knows, we’d be devastated to lose these freedoms, and to tie it back to Fannie Lou Hamer’s speech, “Nobody is free until everybody is free.”
This is where I believe compassion becomes necessary. Awareness riles me up, joy resources me; and compassion spurs me into action. Compassion takes awareness and joy and elevates it into action. And so, this month, I’ve included some resources and a meditation around the theme of compassion.
On that note, happy International Women’s Day! May we all step into March (an appropriate name for the month considering the theme of this newsletter) with gratitude, awareness, joy, and compassion.
Resources
Read.
”My self-care is my joy.” Five black women share the rituals that help them show up as their fullest selves
When it comes to compassion, the trick is that you need to be able to extend it to yourself, genuinely, in order to truly extend it to others. Black women have always led the way in terms of self and community care. This article on Camille Styles shares how five black women manage to show up authentically with compassion for themselves even when all the noise around them is telling them they don’t deserve to.
Learn.
Why International Women’s Day is so important for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community
TL/DR: Nobody is free until everybody is free! Enough said (but still worth a read).
Try.
An Equity Audit with Awa by Beloved
Awa by Beloved offers equity auditing with the goal of empowering companies and teams to drive change within their organization in a lasting way. Perhaps you can pitch this to someone at work, try it with your immediate team, or even use the free online tool to assess your current diversity, equity, and inclusion markers.
Take in.
“Activism is my rent for living on the planet.”
― Alice walker
Reflect.
Meditate on your most cherished pleasures. They could be simple or grand. Write, draw, or sound them out. Now sit for a moment with the feeling of having them taken away. Notice how your body responds. Write, dance, draw, or express that emotion in whatever way feels most natural. Come back to the cherished pleasures. If it’s available to you in this moment, choose one and enjoy it with deep gratitude.
Meditate.
For those familiar with the practice of cultivating loving-kindness, you probably have done so through a recitation of phrases. Reciting phrases is just one doorway into this particular heart quality, and it doesn’t always work for everyone. In this practice, you’ll be guided to use images or a memory to inspire the sensations of loving-kindness to arise, and then to share it outward.
Link appreciation: Anti-Racism Daily.
