You're not a born a blank slate.
Your feelings, your nervous system, your family's nervous system tells a story.
Collective Energy Card Pull
The Ancestor
from the Elemental Alchemist Oracle deck by Nyasha Williams and Grace Banda
MESSAGE: Loved ones and those who carried your blood, who walked this earth before you, are reaching out-they want to connect.
Do you hear their calls? Who better to guide you on this challenging, difficult, and enriching journey than those who hold you in their spirit and heart? Speak to them and lay your worries at their altar.
Your Ancestors are your biggest cheerleaders! Pay homage to your lineage as their sacrifices, known and unknown, have gotten you to where you are now. Work toward gracefully giving and receiving-your community extends beyond the physical realm.
Are you seeing the signs?
When was the last time you spent time in nature?
How is the health of your ancestral altar?
TAKE ACTION: Call out to invoke ancestral veneration (speak out loud as frequently as you feel called).
“Ancestors, known and unknown, who want wealth in all its forms for me and my family.
Be with me now. Please guide me on my path with your wisdom and guidance.
I am the root of your root, soil of your soil, bone of your bone, and blood of your blood.
Walk with me in the commitment to lineage and allow me to grow our legacy.”
The greatest thing then, in all education, is to make our nervous system our ally as opposed to our enemy.
-William James
An Act of Radical Self-Care
Welcoming your anger and rage
Our rage and anger do not mean we are “out of control” or “too much.” Anger is actually our sympathetic nervous system or fight response going into action to help us adapt to stressors in our environment. As children, we are often scolded for having big feelings or any feelings at all. Being the adaptable little beings that we are, we learn to shut down and disconnect from our emotions, or we fight against those caregivers and adults, leading to ostracization from society.
To welcome your rage and anger, recognize that these emotions are natural responses to perceived threats or injustices. Here are some steps to embrace and integrate them:
1. Acknowledge Your Feelings: Give yourself permission to feel angry. Understand that it's a valid emotion and part of your natural response system. Have you ever allowed yourself to just notice it?
2. Understand the Source: Reflect on what is triggering your anger. Identifying the root cause can help you address the underlying issues. Is this your rage or anger? Is this someone else’s story?
3. Express It: Find healthy ways to express your anger. This could be through physical activity, creative outlets, or talking with someone you trust.
4. Set Boundaries: Use your anger as a signal that your boundaries may have been crossed. Consider that you may need to communicate your limits to others.
5. Practice Self-Compassion: Be kind to yourself. Recognize that feeling anger does not make you a bad person and they are a part of you too.
6. Seek Support: If anger feels overwhelming, consider talking to a therapist or counselor that aligns with your valunes who can help you understand the root of these emotions without trying to just “cope” with them.
For example, I was a people pleaser as a child who felt as though I couldn’t show outward anger or even frustration. It wasn't until after starting my healing journey where I learned to listen to my intuitation and anger as signs of my boundaries being crossed. Through a consistent mindfulness practice, I learned to welcome my anger as a tool for self-protection and assertiveness rather than something to be ashamed of.
Another amazing resouce that helped me embrace my rage and anger as a part of was Dr. Jen, founder of Decolonizing Therapy, Sacred Rage workshop. You get her recorded her workshop here!
Music is Medicine
For the Comrades🔥 playlist
I created a playlist for times when need we need to move and alchemize NOT calm or suppress our righteous rage or anger in our body that has been building up from the injustices that continues to happen around us.
Our nervous system deserves this nourishment and nurture.
Gems Worth Sharing
Free Racialized Trauma Course by Dr. Resmaa Menakem, a therapist and trauma specialist who activates the wisdom of elders.
WE CAN’T HELP OURSELVES EVEN BEGIN TO HEAL RACIALIZED TRAUMA IF WE DON’T ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IT EVEN EXISTS.
Enroll for the free five session course here.
Art to inspire radical imagination by Chi Nwosu
✷ Illustrator & Designer they/them
✷ Queer, Nonbinary Nigerian on Anishinaabe land (Chicago)
Mealea Collection by Krystal M. Chuon
Mealea Collection is Khmer imagination turned tangible (jewelry, artworks, literature, and merch).
✷ A second-generation indigenous Khmer/Krom American artist, writer, and maker.
✷Bringing khmer 🇰🇭 & se asian visibility through contemporary jewelry and merch
Hold Up, Wait A Minute Podcast Episodes available on the website!
You can listen to all of the available episodes straight from my Reset and Resilient Wellness website for those that don’t want to go onto the other streaming platforms. Click here and bookmark it onto your phone!
The latest episode I discuss how perfectionism and people-pleasing are often seen as positive traits by society but they in reality can be quite damaging and triggered by your survival defense, fawn. Check it out to learn how this response is essentially about trying to appease others to avoid conflict or harm.