Of course, our DNA articulates the building blocks of how our bodies grow — a type of narrative, so to speak — but beyond that, our DNA carries stories of our ancestors too. Researchers have discovered that our DNA carries imprints of our grandparents’ life experiences, and perhaps, further back as well.
Sadly, this was initially discovered by looking at the impacts of trauma. When ancestors have endured trying experiences, descendants carry some imprints of those experiences. See this:
But we are not stuck in these stories. The same discovery tells us that we are writing our DNA even as our DNA writes some aspects of our lives.
So. . .
All the work we do to heal, to grow, to connect, to create space, to write new stories in our lives, and in the lives of our communities, shapes the physical building blocks of ourselves and generations that follow us.
If the leaders in the White House weren’t so ableist in their beliefs that masks make a person look sick, and therefore, “weak,” “bad,” “shameful,” and “to be ridiculed,” we might not be in this cascading mess of a contagion.
I hope for everyone involved and wish for recovery and wellness. I am dismayed and angry that leaders are needlessly exposing people to this virus, especially when they have immediate, high level access to experts and best practices to protect public health. There are a lot of people whose names are not going end up in the news cycle, but whose lives are going to be impacted and disrupted by this spread.
Image Description:A book is on top of a brown, curved table at an angle. Its title is “Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds” by adrienne maree brown.
I really appreciate the book, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne marie brown. I find it to be a remarkably refreshing, empowering paradigm shift in how we understand our relationships, our connection to the earth, our activism, our organizing, and our processes for affecting change.
There is so much I could share, as this has opened up reflections for me in many directions. But today, I want to share a piece of the book that has been sitting personally for a long time.
adrienne marie brown says,
“We need each other. I love the idea of shifting from ‘mile wide inch deep’ movements to ‘inch wide mile deep’ movements that schism the existing paradigm.” (page 20)
Inch wide, mile deep… I absolutely love that.
She is encouraging us to move away from a paradigm we might recognize very well (do you?) — that is, plunging into task-oriented work in a huge array of areas based on the urgency of the many needs around us. Those needs are very real, and when we experience burnout, we might find ourselves driven more by ‘shoulds’ than feelings of relational care. In the midst of this, she encourages to move toward a paradigm that is based on relationships — going deep with them, going deep with the care of them — because that is how transformation really happens.
It’s also much more sustainable. Whether it’s in our employment, our vocation, our neighborhood vision, or in larger scale movement work, mile wide, inch deep rhythms often lead to high burnout and low impact.
But inch wide, mile deep… That’s refreshing, transformative work.
And lately, I’ve found myself desiring this. To plant myself/ourselves particularly — not widely, but deeply — to be all-in on a few things, very specific inches,
trusting that those roots go deep, trusting that those roots find nourishing soil, trusting that those roots intertwine with other roots,
finding connection to the people planted in other inches. (and intersecting) (and providing collective nourishment).
Image Description: Oxygen masks dropped on an airplane. Public domain image.
You know leaders aren’t doing anything to protect us when they won’t even protect themselves.
“In an unlikely loss of cabin pressure, panels will open with oxygen masks. Be sure to tear yours off first, never put it on, and cough all over your neighbor as we crash.”
Image Description: A yellow, taped post-it note reads, “Yes or No?”
There are times when we have to say no to what is being asked of us, even if it’s good and important, in order to say yes to the most central calling we have.
We have to protect it, not only because it’s important to us, but because it might be the most important role we play in community.
We can’t say yes to everything. We are limited people.
Sometimes, we have to say no so we can keep saying yes.
I find the Social Change Ecosystem framework by Deepa Iyer to be very helpful. You can engage it in the images below.
For a long time in movement work, I kept putting myself in the roles I thought I should be in — with an extremely narrow of view of what roles were needed/necessary. These roles didn’t jive with my body or my skillsets, so my continual effort to put myself there not only flattened me but also canceled my ability to be and do the roles I was skilled and called to do.
What I’m saying is this —
Support all of these roles. They’re all needed. And sometimes, yes, we need to share the load of the most challenging ones. But we can hunker down in the primary one where we best fit, and be all-in there.
You can do movement work *as you.*
We partner our skills, talents, and roles so that they build something bigger than any one of us alone.
Also, I’m a few of these things, but primarily, a Caregiver and a Weaver. How about you?
Text: “What is your role within #TheLongGame?”Text: Builder – “I develop, organize, and implement ideas, practices, people, and resources in service of a collective vision.” – Deepa IyerText: Caregiver — “I nurture and nourish the people around me by creating and sustaining a community of care, joy, and connection.” -Deepa IyerText: Disrupter — “I take uncomfortable and risky actions to shake up the status quo, to raise awareness, and to build power.” – Deepa IyerText: Experimenter — “I innovate, pioneer, and invent. I take risks and course-correct as needed.” –Deepa IyerText: Frontline Responder — “I address community crises by marshaling and organizing resources, networks, and messages.” – Deepa IyerText: Guide — “I teach, counsel, and advise, using my gifts of well-earned discernment and wisdom.” -Deepa IyerText: Healer — “I recognize and tend to the generational and current traumas caused by oppressive systems, institutions, policies and practices.” -Deepa IyerText: Storyteller — “I craft and share our community stories, cultures, experiences, histories, and possibilities through art, music, media, and movement.” -Deepa IyerText: Visionary — “I imagine and generate our boldest possibilities, hopes, and dreams, and remind us of our direction.” -Deepa IyerText: Weaver — “I see the through-lines of connectivity between people, places, organizations, ideas, and movements.” -Deepa IyerText: “All roles work together to fuel momentum of our Social Change Ecosystem. Every role is necessary. “
Image Description: The word ‘Racism,’ in black letters with a red slash crossing it out.
We must condemn white supremacy. It’s evil, and it always takes the form of violence.
We must condemn white supremacy with our words, yes. But we must also look inward and work to shift the narratives of white supremacy that we have absorbed and internalized. And we must act to dismantle the systemic forms of white supremacy throughout our society.
Image Description: A person with light skin, brown hair, and brown eyes looks into the camera while wearing a blue mask with small white flowers. Public domain image.
I’m doing pretty well overall, but when the sun starts to set with increasingly cooler evenings, I occasionally notice some irritability too. Largely hunkered down in my house since March, I know that winter is coming soon. This means that the hunkering will become more persistent.
These days, I take walks frequently, and I have a hearty squad of people who call. My mood is largely and perhaps surprisingly, light. I have remained my typical authentic, resilient self throughout more than 200 days of this. But I know there are many more days to come. Perhaps another year.
Yesterday, as the sun set, I experienced that cooler air, but I felt more sad than irritable. It seems like we’ve resigned ourselves to the the coronavirus. Maybe not altogether — lots of people are taking precautions — but we don’t have a collective strategy. And it seems like a lot of us are okay with that. Many people in national and local power are totally okay with that.
As for individuals, maybe we’ll take safety measures personally… Maybe we won’t… Maybe… we’ll cut just a few corners…
But without a collective strategy, this virus continues to spread, and it seems like many people and communities have resigned themselves to the reality that this will pass through the entire population at large. This surrender isn’t just a first wave, second wave, or third wave. This is like doing the wave at a baseball game. COVID-19 keeps moving through our population bit by bit. As of this date, 205,654 people have died, and 7.2 million cases have been reported. While many recover, this virus is only half a year old, and some are now reporting chronic illness impacting their hearts, lungs, and neurological systems months after contracting the virus. In addition to a continual wave of death averaging at about 1000 people per day, this ever-moving virus causes chronic illness and disability in large numbers too.
And six months in, it seems we want to believe the fantasy that things are better, or at least a little better, simply because we’ve taken some time away from our typical routines. But besides knowing that masks work, we really aren’t in a different position than we were in March. We’re just tired of it.
So I see churches opening, universities opening, restaurants opening, and political rallies opening. Today, the state government in Florida declared that restaurants, bars, gyms, theme parks, sporting events, retail stories, vacation rentals, concert halls, and auditoriums can all open at full capacity.
We are largely in the same position we were in March.
And because we won’t set a collective strategy to deal with a collective problem, we are largely in the same position we were in March. We don’t have to be, but we are. Unless we want a pandemic to run a continual wave of disruption, disability, and death throughout our population, we have to have a collective strategy.
It seems like we don’t have the will.
Many individuals do not, and certainly, many in power do not. When those power brokers don’t have the will or the care, many others don’t have a choice. Workers must show up for their bosses. Students must show up for their university administrations. Healthcare workers must show up, and some develop PTSD. Incarcerated people are exposed en masse with no freedom of movement. Disabled people must stay home to protect themselves from the population at large.
We want freedom and choices, but without a collective strategy, most of us have diminished freedom and choices. And disruption, disability, and death continue to move through our population.
I’m not a person without hope, but I want to name this. I will keep hunkering down in my house for a continual, ongoing stretch of time that boggles my mind. But I do have the privilege and ability to choose to protect myself this way.
Many do not.
Without a collective strategy, many will lose freedom and choice.
And so I take to heart these challenging words from The Testament, Margaret Atwood’s sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. They are a painful parody of Robert Frost:
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I took the one most travelled by. It was littered with corpses, as such roads are. But as you will have noticed, my own corpse is not among them.”
Today, I’d like to share this video from Dr. Nicole LePera, who goes by The Holistic Psychologist on social media. I highly recommend her Facebook and Instagram accounts as well as her YouTube Channel.
She asks, “Do you have trauma brain?” Here are some signs she mentions:
1) Obsessive desire to be chosen by others without any awareness about how you and your body feel about the connection
2) Chronic social anxiety
3) Need for consistent distraction
4) Ego states of self-judgment and comparison
5) Lack of trust that leads to procrastination, self-sabotage, and shame cycles
If you notice any connections or resonance with these, be kind to yourself, know you’re not alone, and know that you can find help for these.
Smuggling Grace 