Acknowledging Where We Are To Get To Where We Want To Be

I am so grateful for Eliza's (she/her) reminder yesterday...for the permission her post offers me.

Because I have a pretty great relationship with gratitude. I come into celebration and thankfulness and gratitude quite easily.

And yesterday as I was acknowledging a lighter aspect of US Thanksgiving,

in addition to acknowledging National Day of Mourning and learning deeper around the myths and erasure of indigenous people,

I found I could barely lean into gratitude without a spring of grief upwelling right next to it.

It's not so much that I'm finding it difficult to find gratitude, as Eliza writes, it's that I am experiencing so much grief alongside of gratitude that also needs to be acknowledged.

I can't bypass grief just to be in joy.

I have to acknowledge the full spectrum of where I am if I'm going to get where I want to be.

“As within so without. As above so below.”

To bypass the disease, murder, and white-washing of history to focus exclusively on feast and thanks is the work of white racial supremacy with a focus on colonization and dehumanization.

We must hold Thanksgiving and Day of Mourning.

To bypass grief to focus exclusively on gratitude is the work of white supremacy by invalidating and gaslighting injustice and oppression to focus on light and love.

We must hold gratitude and grief.

I know this is really hard.

And not just holding gratitude and grief and Thanksgiving and Day of Mourning.

Everything.

Everything is really hard right now.

And if we want to move toward joy and love and connection, we do well to also acknowledge our grief, loss, frustration, and anger.

We can do this.

Offering you so much love,
Daniela

P.S. I'm offering a workshop Thursday, December 10 from 5 - 6 pm PST for Acknowledging Trump Trauma & Anchoring in Resilience. The regular rate is $22. $11 for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+. Join me. :)

We have a lot to acknowledge, metabolize, and recover there, so we can anchor into safety, resilience, and creating a path forward toward justice and liberation.