april 2020 : tension
feel it to heal it
weekly essays + prompts:
resources to handle tension:
book:
My Grandmother’s Hands
by Resmaa Menakem
My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not only about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide. Paves the way for a new, body-centered understanding of white supremacy—how it is literally in our blood and our nervous system. Offers a step-by-step healing process based on the latest neuroscience and somatic healing methods, in addition to incisive social commentary.
article:
When It Comes to Painful Emotions, Don’t Think — Just Feel
by Michele DeMarco
“Benevolent honesty is an alternative to what I call “cognitive elusion,” the tendency to escape into our head as a way to avoid painful emotions, concerns, and anxieties and/or heal old traumas by doggedly trying to rationalize or explain them away. Cognitive elusion is a “discomfort detour” that often results in a “resilience roadblock” for one simple reason: Distress affects much more than our thoughts.”
don’t wait. work with, through, or against the tension of 2020 now.