I have an inner protocol in my doula work with parents and babies: ask myself if I am needed, support only as needed, do absolutely everything that is needed (change the diaper, sweep the floor, rub mamaâs feet, take out the trashâno task is menial), and make space for the natural order to emerge.
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I suggested she use a tactic I learned from training in nonviolent communications: OFNR. O, for observation of undeniable fact. F, for feeling and assumptions about motivation and other interpretations of facts. N, for needsâindividual as well as collective needs. R, for request . . . a request for an alternate way of behaving.
âStart with the facts,â I told her. He left the office earlier than expected and he did so without telling anyone. âThen,â I explained further, âshare how his doing so made you feelâ âin this case, disrespected. âThen share with him the collective need . . . that everyone in the company has a need to feel respected. Then,â I told her, âmake a request. If he needs to leave early, ask that he let you know in advance.
Things like:
- The less I engage in gossip, the less I harbor suspicion, the more space I find within myself for miraculous experiences.
- When I fear the universe, I fear myself. When I love and am in awe of the universe, I love and am in awe of myself. Imagine then, the power when I align with the universe.
- Nothing is required of me more than being, and creating. Simultaneously being present with who I am, who we are as a species...and creating who we must become, and within that who I must become.
- Accept my Inner MultitudesâŚ
I am not turning against myself, I am multitudes. The tide to be turned is a process of inner alignment, those who wish to support me need me to be vulnerable with that inner
Contradiction.
I have been in movement spaces for a long time, and we have a way of doing things that is so steeped in critique that I have often wondered if we would strangle movement before it could blossom. Sometimes I think we put up the critiques to excuse ourselves from getting involved, and sometimes I think we do it to protect our hearts from getting broken if it doesnât work out. Critique, alone, can keep us from having to pick up the responsibility of figuring out solutions. Sometimes I think we need to liberate ourselves from critique, both internal and external, to truly give change a chance.
We heal ourselves, and we heal in relationship, and from that place, simultaneously, we create more space for healed communities, healed movements, healed worlds. What I offer here are the core ways I have tapped into my own power and wholeness, and ways I have supported others to tap into their own wholeness and transformation. And fractal strategy suggests wholeness in our organizers yields wholeness in our
future.
I am a fan of being creative and self-directive with practices. What are the practices you need to line your life up with your values and beliefs?