Blog 2: The stories we tell
Hello + Happy Friday!
Today I wanted to lift up an amazing artist who I have been following for quite sometime, Chetna of (https://www.mosaiceyeunfolding.com/)! Mosaiceye’s mission is to cultivate the creative self-actualization and empowered interconnection of womxn. Her work centers reality, truth, and feelings unspoken. The other day I came across one of her new works, Symptoms of Colonization. My heart and mind were brimming over with thoughts, reflections, frustrations, and wonderings, as this post hit so close to home.
As a therapist trained in narrative methods and inquiry, there has always been something deeply fascinating to me about language, stories, and the ways in which human beings re-package their histories—and the subsequent plots, main ideas, and title pages that get stuck, are our reference points when we enter new seasons (i.e “according to this year on this page I am…”) and dwell within us.
Colonization
/kälənəˈzāSH(ə)n/
(noun); the action or process of settling among and establishing control over the indigenous people of an area; the action of appropriating a place or doman for one's own use; the action by a plant or animal of establishing itself in an area.
You may be wondering, okay Camille, what does this have to do with therapy? This isn't a history class! But indeed, every aspect of who we are as folks of color doing our best to manage lives in the city, at times overwhelmed with anxious, invasive, hurtful, and stressful thoughts; is living, breathing, pulsating, with… history, society, and context.
Unfortunately (it is important to note), at times traditional therapeutic interventions bleach away the beauty, complexity, and intricate stitchwork of how WHO WE ARE informs so much of HOW WE ARE, WHAT WE ARE, and THE WAYS WE, ARE. Yes so much of the way we think, our families, our childhood, and our relationships deeply influence us and our reactions/interactions. However, honor must be given to the ways those thoughts, family patterns, cycles of abuse, and unhealthy boundaries collide and filter through society, our identities, culture, and positionalities. In an often disempowering society, therapy can and should be a vehicle of liberation and empowerment to actively counteract, dismantle, and intimately reconnect with every aspect of our narratives.
This weekend and week, keep track of how many times one of these thoughts cross your mind:
“I am not good at ___”
“I can’t do ____”
“I am worthless”
“I add no value to ___”
“I don’t know how I managed to get this _____”
“I am just too complicated to love”
“No one wants to be around a friend like me”
“I need to rest but I also need to network”
Where do you feel that idea dancing around in your body? Where do you think that idea is coming from? Has someone told you something similar in the past? How does this idea or thought add to your life? What does it take away? If you could, how would you take a stand against that idea? What would you say/do?
I need you to know, you are divinely, perfectly, and magically created. You carry within you histories, memories, spells, healing, ability, and strength—beyond the limits of what this world can imagine.
Yes, there are some aspects of life that are beyond the locus of our personal control (i.e. how we were raised, the color of our skin, society’s viewpoint of our identities, how people respond to us). However, when we take back the wheel, get still, reflect and get curious about the roots, de-personalize the message (literally take it/peel it off of you!) , and increase our personal understanding of the worlds we live in,— we are gifted with the tools and autonomy to make intentional, deliberate, radical choices about our well-being.
You are the author, the publisher, the artist, the editor, the poet, and the printer.
You are all that you need.
That unique light (you may not know about!) you carry everywhere you go, no one else has, but you.
This week: try to write a tender message, note, post-it note to yourself. look back to Blog 1 for ideas around intentions :) Paste it on your mirror or in your planner. Remember: “spelling is a spell!”
Speak in affirmative language, set into motion a truth that will become reality. Because, you said so.
I want to read every word, every page, every chapter of your book. When you yourself find the time to finally write it.
love +light,
c