Disciplines:
Draft to do list for when everything falls apart, please edit as you like:
-Call or visit your loved ones
-Make friends with or strengthen friendships with your neighbours
-Create or join a mutual aid network with your neighbours
-Learn about native edible plants
-Practice cultivation and foraging
-Learn what you can about how your ancestors survived when everything fell apart in their lifetimes
-To the best of your ability: exercise, eat mostly healthy, get enough sleep, brush and floss your teeth, etc.; care for your physical form
-Develop or strengthen an introspective / calming practice: meditation, prayer, yoga, nature walks, etc.
-Develop or strengthen creative practices that engage your mind and your hands
-Read, listen, learn
-Make as much art as you can
-Remember that things can always get worse, they can also always get better, they probably won't stay the same
-Remember that you will not do any of this perfectly; it's ok to make mistakes and then keep trying
-Remember that the work is not yours to do alone, but you alone decide what work is yours
-Remember that your purpose includes joy
-Remember that you are surrounded by ancestors
-Remember that the Land loves you, and always will
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Which healing is best to start with; internal, interpersonal, or systemic? Or is trying to divide and rank these three just a reflection of internalised white supremacy culture?
Healing and perfectionism are oppositional forces. Healing can not be merely 'performed,' meanwhile perfectionism is entirely about performativity. Every aspect of healing is messy; so many parts are embarrassing as you try to tame your ego; it's impossible to know if it will work before you try, and when you do try, you may realise that everyone else who has made a roadmap made it (unintentionally) custom for themselves. The fact is, there is no perfect place or way to start healing.
A few years ago, I found the 16 Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture article by Tema Okun. This article helped me name and organise in my mind the shape and scope of white supremacy culture. After reading, everything was so clear, and I could immediately spot a WSC system. Naming or identifying the wound is often cited as the first step to healing. Then came the critiques of the writer; as a white woman, she co-opted the work of Black and Brown activists, thinkers, historians, etc. There are better resources that come from the BIPGM community. Don't share the 16 Characteristics.
This has occurred in my life before. When I was about 21, I happened to watch a documentary; this was the first time I understood that canada is currently perpetrating genocide against Indigenous Peoples, through every single public system we have. So many things changed for me, and there hasn't been a day since that documentary when I haven't thought about this genocide that permeates everything. Then came the critiques of the documentarian; as a white settler, he was just making trauma porn. He co-opted the stories of Indigenous survivors to portray himself as a white saviour even though he's also a perpetrator of the harms he's exposing. There are better resources that come from Indigenous survivors, don't share the documentary.
In the case of the documentary, particularly now (2025), there are significantly more Indigenous-made options to share the stories of survivors, to clarify the impact and ongoing mechanisms of the genocide. I haven't yet found a better resource than the 16 Characteristics though. Nothing so far has matched the clarity, structure, and comprehensive outline of how WSC functions.
In their countries of origin, both of my parents started life in a community where any adult they encountered likely knew them, their families, and their histories, and could participate in parenting them. When I was about 35, I realised that I didn't grow up in a community, I grew up mostly in 'white spaces.' Yes I was in a house with my (nuclear) family, in a neighbourhood of family homes, I attended public school, was forced to go to church, participated in after-school activities, etc., but whiteness dominated every public space, indoctrinating me through external expectations, divisions/judgment, the school system, toxic hierarchy, and constant emotional violence. So are the 16 Characteristics organised and presented in a way that fits with a white worldview, and is my white indoctrination why I find it so clarifying?
Referring back to my first question, is it even possible to start healing in only one realm (internal, interpersonal, or systemic)? While we can avoid working on systemic change, internal and interpersonal healing likely only really happen together, most efficiently within collective healing contexts that you've discussed previously. It seems unlikely or even impossible to start with systemic change before internally identifying that there's a need for healing, or to seek collaborators in systemic change without being confronted by the need for interpersonal healing.
Thinking about the fractal nature of relationships, our first relationship to ourselves defines every other relationship we can have. What I observe in Indigenous Worldsense is that everyone is assumed to be an artist, whether that label is used or not. What made us human was not merely standing upright, but dancing once we stood; not merely speaking, but singing once we had speech capabilities. Creative self-expression is the core of what it means to be human. Maybe that's the best place to start.
