Day 3 Black August. Deepening work for liberation

Earlier this week on a call, someone asked as a check in question, “What disciplines or practices do you use to deepen your work for liberation?” Several days later and i am still reflecting on this.

In the moment the question was asked, i immediately wondered what my work of liberation was. On a call with hard core organizers, some of whom have fought on the frontlines of housing, policing, immigration, economic injustice and more for decades, i questioned my own liberatory work. If i wasn’t doing what they were doing, can i say that i am working for liberation?

I thought about the work of ancestral healing i’ve been doing in my family and working as a co-director of an organization doing really great work. I thought about all of the behind-the-scenes work i do supporting people to work through things, be their best selves, know they are loved and supported. I thought about all of that and questioned its liberatory potential.

It was in that moment of doubt that i became aware of an embodied memory, which was that spirituality is liberatory practice. Seeking connection and healing relationships with beings (human and beyond) and the natural world is the work of liberation. Helping others to remember their kinship with others, heal themselves and others and live in regenerative, reciprocal relationships…well that is liberating.

And so the practices and disciplines that deepen, re-ground, re-center me in this work involve praying and giving thanks, talking with my ancestors and listening for their messages in the wind, greeting the trees on my morning walk, and calling upon my spirit guides for advice, insights and support. And i humbly listen to the wisdoms of my elders: those still here on this earth and those held in memories, books and other media.

These are some of my practices. What are yours?