You are Needed: Shifting Patterns of Oppression
How are you? I mean really, how are you?
I will admit, I’ve been struggling. I am writing today because I know that I am not alone in my struggle. This is a challenging time to be alive and yet, here we are. (If you are in need of immediate support - please scroll down to the supportive practices.)
As I’ve sat with the Plants and my Guides and observed the threads I’ve noticed in our society, I have come to the conclusion that we are experiencing enormous challenges because we have the opportunity to shift two large patterns that have replayed for thousands and thousands of years.
The first is the pattern of oppression. Namely the belief that some Beings are more important than others. (We could also refer to this as the belief in hierarchy.) The second is the pattern of the oppressed become the oppressors, which then reinforces the first pattern.
A cursory look at history shows us these patterns at play. Since the patterns have a long history, we can see that while they may appear to be beneficial (to some) for a relatively short period, they do not actually benefit humanity nor our Planet and they interfere with our own personal healing and evolution.
And now, we have the opportunity to shift them.
Shifting patterns requires consciousness and vigilance. We know that it is much easier to walk a well-worn path than to bushwhack and create a new one. Because of this, one of the key measures is progress not perfection. It is easy to get pulled back into the grooves when we least expect it.
If we find ourselves acting out the old pattern, the first step is to notice it. Then we pause. In this pause, we resource ourselves - rest, spend time in Nature, get curious about what’s going on, etc. If amends are required, we make them. And then we again choose a different way.
While it may seem that changing these patterns is a daunting, near impossible, task, the good news is that there are countless ways that we can disrupt them. Each disruption brings a shift, sometimes large and sometimes imperceptible. Every one, everyone matters.
Disrupting the Patterns
Recognizing that all Beings are sacred and have a right to thrive is one component of shifting the pattern of oppression. This includes recognizing that we are interconnected, part of a greater whole (just like the cells of our bodies). What happens to one of us, impacts all of us.
Often when healing the separation is discussed, people are referring to remembering our innate connection with our more-than-human kin. This is an important part of shifting the pattern of oppression. After all, humanity has long tried to enforce dominion over Nature.
However, equally as important is healing our separation from one another. Some of us, myself included at times, are living in bodies that represent the current oppressors. We have become so accustomed to being treated differently that we tend to not notice when it happens, yet expect it. We, therefore, need to unpack the places where domination, control, and separation occur within our bodies and our actions. Another aspect of this work includes embracing and honoring the parts of us that are counter to the culture of oppression and may have been suppressed or shamed.
We are also asked to notice, prevent, and speak up about any acts of oppression, including othering, dehumanizing people, and injustice. There are many opportunities to do so. The challenge here is to avoid becoming completely overwhelmed and incapacitated. (See below for some support in this.)
Stopping the cycle of the oppressed becoming the oppressors requires us to heal and digest our wounds and respond with Love to those who try to dehumanize or dominate ourselves or others. I find that this is the most challenging task of shifting the pattern. It is much easier to respond with anger or hatred or vitriol. However, these only continue the cycle.
To respond with Love, we are obligated to recognize our connection with one another. It is helpful if we can remember that those who want to cause harm to or dominate others are acting out of their wounds, including those that have been inherited for generations for which they no longer have any context. Each time that we respond with Love and compassion, we offer the person we are interacting with a gift of healing, we support our Heart coherence (which has positive physiological impacts), we help to heal our Ancestral and karmic wounds, and we help to shift these out dated patterns.
Again, I know that shifting these patterns is not easy. And it is completely possible.
You are Needed
We already have everything that we need, especially if we work together. It is time for us to utilize our skills and gifts. I am sure that you have learned techniques or practices to support you or your community. You may have been stockpiling these for years. It’s time to get them out. Sometimes we can forget the extent of what we know, we may feel that we are not qualified, or think that we need to learn more. While it is important to know the limits of our skills, during this time of great change and upheaval, everyone is needed. Like the various cells in our body who work together to provide life, each of our skills and rolls are important. You are needed!
What do you do to calm yourself? How do you stay in your Heart? How do you stay grounded and centered? What skills do you have for shifting energy? How do you heal and change limiting beliefs and habitual patterns? How do you share Love with the world? How do you inspire others? How do you keep yourself sane and healthy? How do you support and uplift others?
These are all good skills and gifts that are needed. What else can you offer for yourself or others? Remember, sometimes the most effective medicine is the simplest.
Practices of Support
Here are some practices and resources that I find helpful:
Spend time in Nature
Give Gratitude for all the many gifts that surround and support us
Bless my Water and food: before eating I like to remember all of the Beings who contributed to the meal or my tea including the Elemental Beings, the minerals of the Soil, the Sun, the Wind, the many Ancestors who have carried the Seeds, . . . If we slow down and really think about all who contributed to and impacted our food, we quickly realize how interconnected we are and how blessed we are.
Regular energy hygiene
Connecting with the people who I regularly interact with (store clerks, servers, etc) as well as strangers: being kind, discussing their lives, appreciating them; it’s the small moments that really matter
Engaging in activities that I enjoy, that fill me up, and that help to honor and celebrate life
Working with Flower Essences for support
Investigating and healing my wounds, limiting beliefs, biases
Asking for help from both humans and more-than-humans
Communicating with Plants
Engaging in a self-Love ritual
Blessing and sending Love to the people who I struggle with or who I perceive as having harmed me or others. I tailor this blessing to the individual, often blessing them in their wholeness.
Be conscious of what I am consuming via media including the news, movies/shows, books (this is a work in progress)
Engage in visioning and sensing the world I know is possible as well as surrounding myself with the visions of others who are aligned with a Love ethic
Working with Nature in co-creative partnership and engaging with Elemental Beings
Engaging in flocking - supporting the leaders of change and those most impacted by the challenges, while also stepping up as needed (like migrating Geese)
Breathing - paying attention to my breath, breathing in from my nose and out from my mouth, elongating the out breath, pausing in between in and out
Exercise: stretch - finding the spaces between; walking or dancing - raising my heartbeat, transforming anger into movement, reconnecting my feet with Earth; lifting weights - engaging my core, finding my inner strength, going beyond the comfortable
This is a somewhat long list of practices and yet, it doesn’t even come close to listing all the techniques and gifts I have to help support me in this time and to help me respond with Love. I know that you too can add to this list. If you care to share your own practices or techniques, please do. I’d love to hear about them.
There is something else that I want to share with you which has been an enormous support for me over the last several months, the podcast The Telepathy Tapes. I have listened to the episodes multiple times. The messages that are shared confirm my own experiences connecting with the Plants and the Unseen. Listening enlivens the parts of me who remember the Truth of who we are and encourages me to continue doing my work.
This message from Season 1: Episode 9 in particular felt like an edict:
“Make your whole life about love.”
Let’s see what we can do with Love.