Where does your path lead?

Where does your path lead?

When I'm feeling anger, frustration, sadness, grief, apathy, I go into the woods. I don't go to hide away, I go to observe, to walk with what grows and thrives. I go to find clarity and truth. Nature gives me time and space to listen, to learn how to find my place, how to step forward on my path, how to speak up, how to guide my kids, how to help with the turbulence, how to care for and carry others who need support, and how to bring what is heavy in my heart as action in my hands.

The beauty and access to nature is my privilege. I live in a safe neighborhood with supportive systems who state they believe in welcoming and protecting all residents. I have the ability to work with enough personal protective equipment to keep myself and my family safe, to stay home when not working, and to practice social distancing. I have clean water, plenty of food, and health insurance. I have the freedom to run, walk, drive or speak out in public without the threat of detainment, arrest, or violence. This is my privilege and more.

If you stay awake and aware with what is going on in the world, then you know there has been a collective call to action. We can't stay silent, we must take an active effort to stand up for the platforms that need strengthening. The scales have been tipped for too long benefitting others over everyone. This pandemic has exposed more than our vulnerability, it has uncovered the root of why we are so misaligned, the cracks in the foundation can't hold a system designed to benefit some people and harm others. An unbalanced structure will fail. The problems that need addressing are prevalent; our unequal race, gender, class, education and employment systems, our dysfunctional healthcare and prison systems, violence, police brutality, racial profiling, our polluted Earth, and at the center of it all; our federal government. If we have learned anything during this pandemic, it is that we must pour our hearts into building a new foundation, and stand up for what is right, what is needed, call out and vote for change, promote hope, freedom, and justice for everyone. There will never be peace, love and light without action for authentic justice.

Our world depends on all of us.

I have a small platform here, but I feel I need to use it to speak out against racial and social injustice, systemic and implicit bias, and hold space to listen and learn. I've listed below ways I am taking action to make change.

It starts in my home and in my heart.

My husband and I tell our kids the truth about our country's history, black history, genocide, and slavery. We read books about cultural diversity, racism, world news, and discuss the impact that these events have on all of us. I am currently reading 'The Source of Self Regard' by Toni Morrison, and 'Stamped from the Beginning' by Ibram X. Kendi is next up on my bedside table. My boys have read age appropriate biography books on Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Bob Marley, whose music goes over big in our house. My older son is reading 'Ghost' by Jason Reynolds, the biography of Muhammad Ali and George Washington Carver are in the wings. My younger son and I recently read 'The Water Princess' inspired by Georgie Badiel, which discusses access to clean potable water for villages in Burkina Faso. This beautifully illustrated book addresses environmental racism, colonialism, sexism, education rights, climate change and wealth inequality. We encourage a safe space to share thoughts and feelings on subjects we don't understand but wish to understand. We keep the conversation open and ongoing.

In my community, I have started seeking out ways to be informed and active in local events that confront implicit and institutional biases. I talk to family, friends and neighbors in an effort to recognize inequity/equity and exclusion/inclusion. I continue to call myself out when a thought or action has been stimulated by my own personal bias. I am on the list to take a course called 'White People Challenging Racism' through Pathways to Restorative Communities. I am following the actions of my city's Human Rights Commission and have attended meetings to increase my awareness of what I can do locally. I am a steward of a little free library that I stock with culturally and ethnically diverse authors that support all age groups. 

As a nurse, I care for patients with compassion, empathy and understanding. I am on alert for racism, harassment, healthcare bias and cultural judgments that are prevalent issues in my work and address any issues within my scope of practice. I attend and pursue continuing education annually for inclusivity and diversity on racial/ethnic and socioeconomic discrimination within my nursing practice. I support initiatives (see list below) that expose the discrepancy within black maternal healthcare, indigenous maternal healthcare, immigrant and refugee families. I work directly with patients who identify with the LGBTQ community, and I support and promote my hospital's non-discrimination policies. 

As a yoga teacher, I share movement, meditation and mindfulness as an accessible option for everyone and accommodate my language to be sensitive to all. I use self care and teach self care practices as a way to increase capacity to be of service to others. I fully acknowledge that I am a white woman teaching an ancient practice with rich philosophy and history that has been modified to fit in our modern society. I focus my education as a yoga practitioner to acknowledge my privilege and stay accountable to include the awareness of intersectionality and cultural appropriation. For more information on this topic, this article written by Shreena Gandhi and Lillie Wolff is a good starting point. 

As much as I support environmental protection, I realize the Earth won't heal until we address our broken humanity. We are killing each other with our hate, our silence, our words, and our inaction. Humanity must take priority here or nothing will change.

We are not powerless. We can use our voices to raise awareness, sign petitions for change, make donations to important charities and causes, vote thoughtfully to eject corrupt politicians out of office, educate ourselves, our children, and lift our hearts and hands toward a more compassionate and morally evolved civilization. The American history textbooks from my public school education did not offer the information that I have had to seek out as an adult. I was taught lies and my children are being taught lies in school. This glossing over of generational education is on purpose, it is a technique to keep people passive, uninvolved in the laws and politics of our countries. If you believe in justice, if you believe in dignity, if you believe in humanity, then stand up, speak up, and show up. As Mahatma Gandhi says, "Be the change you wish to see in this world."

I donate to organizations that uphold the beliefs I stand for to help bring what is needed for this world to heal. Listed below are some of the organizations I follow, have donated to recently and in the past. 

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Black Lives Matter

Black Visions Collective
BEAM
Color of Change
The Bail Project

Human Rights Campaign
Forward Together
Black Mamas Matter Alliance
Bread of Life
Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance
Greenpeace USA

Clean Water Action

Friends of the Earth

Rainforest Alliance
Ocean Conservancy

Generosity

I'll make mistakes. I'll say and do the wrong thing. I will keep reading, learning, advocating and educating. I'll keep going, there is so much work to do.

This is where my path leads, where does yours?

#blacklivesmatter

#silenceisviolence

#nopeacenojustice

#intersectionalfeminism

#intersectionalenvironmentalism