Unraveling - Decolonizing Our Minds
Over the past two weeks of this series, we briefly touched on the ways our minds have been colonized by the dominant society. I say touched on be a this was by no means an exhaustive list of all the nuances of colonization in the past & present. I encourage any one reading to continue to do your own research if you feel called to. There are countless books, essays, YouTube videos etc on the topic. Support black, queer, trans, and pic creators while doing so.
We’ve established that much of what we’ve been taught about ourselves and the world around us is rooted in anti black cishetero normative (cishet - describes anyone who identifies as the gender they were assigned at birth and is attracted to exclusively the opposite gender) patriarchal programming. For me personally, decolonizing from what I was taught about myself and the world around me went hand in hand with my healing process. It accelerated my healing.
Removing myself from the narrative of what a woman’s role is said to be allowed me to define my womanhood for myself. Unlearning my internalized fatphobia allowed me to develop a deep unshakable self acceptance and self love. Working through repression & shame attached to my sexuality, brought me into a healthy conscious relationship with my sensual self. Decolonizing the belief that certain spiritual practices were negative brought me closer to Spirit (I use Spirit as my word for God, The Creator, The Universe) than I have ever been.These are things I am still working on and will be working on for the rest of my life.
For me, decolonizing my mind is spiritual work.
The journey will look different for everyone but I guarantee you, until you begin this work intentionally, you have no idea the extent of how society shapes your view of you. It affects how we treat ourselves. It affects our ability to even recognize our own pain. It removes us from our self compassion and empathy for others. Great change begins within the self. This is the work.
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If you feel called and ready to begin the process, I speak more on this in my e-book Catalyst: Notes and Poems on Self Healing available now on the site for $11.11