Artwork by shirien @shirien.creates
I’m struck by the extreme juxtapositions of content in my Instagram feed today.
Heavy hearts expressing grief and fear and outrage over the murder of another unarmed black man at the hands of police.
People selling things, babies doing things, people lamenting about how brutal and unfair it is to #stayhome and eat food and watch TV.
Calls to dismantle the systemic racism that allows this to happen again and again.
Artwork by shirien @shirien.creates
Ecstatic white people smiling in selfies to demonstrate how this particular day is overflowing with #gratitude
Interspersed with demands for justice and the arrest of the people who did this, the system that continues to do this.
My belief is that the most profound tool in healing is attunement. There is something alchemical that comes out of the experience of truly being seen, heard, and met. The nervous system relaxes, the heart opens, the soul remembers itself, and transformation becomes possible.
What I’m seeing on my feed is a whole lot of lack of attunement. Tons of unacknowledged pain and suffering. People avoiding discomfort. Other people grieving, raging, and scared.
Attunement is a commitment to showing up. Eyes open. We are being asked to see, to hear, to respond. We are being invited to attune to the collective anger and grief that is bubbling over today.
We are being asked to identify deeply and fully with something every single human heart can relate to and understand— murder is horrific, systemic violence is traumatic, being treated as less than is unjust and unfair.
Artwork by shirien @shirien.creates
How are we going to heal and transform as a community, as a nation, as a culture, if we can’t even attune to each other’s most primal collective needs for safety, support, and solidarity?
Look at this shit. Yes it’s uncomfortable. Yes it’s hard. Yes it takes courage. Be brave. How many more?
Text FLOYD to 55156 to sign the petition ❤️
“How Many More” artwork @bychenelle 🙏🏼
#georgefloyd #ahmaudarbery #breonataylor #blacklivesmatter #attunement #stopkillingblackpeople
#stoppolicebrutality #humanrightscampaign #blackrightsarehumanrights