Time to Rest, Notice and Reflect
December 18, 2020
The times are urgent. Let us slow down.
- Bayo Akomolafe
As the sun begins to set on this tumultuous and historic year, we join you in the yearning to relinquish ourselves from the devastation and loss of this year, while also wanting to stay awake and feel deeply, with eyes open to the possibilities that this moment of great disturbance will not be in vain. We hold close the belief that more justice, love, and belonging can manifest if we keep working toward our collective wellbeing.
But thoughtful, open-hearted and courageous leadership and action requires rest - a pause. As this holiday season approaches, we hope you are able to slow down, to rest, and perhaps to notice and reflect.
For those working to create a world that works for everyone, we believe the practice of “noticing and reflecting” is at the heart of Liberatory Design; it is an intentional practice that happens throughout a humanizing design process. In noticing, we practice both self awareness (of our own identity, values, emotions, biases, power, assumptions, etc) and situational awareness (of contexts, power, history, current state, etc). In reflecting, we take time to deeply consider our actions, impacts, emotions and relationships - in service of adjusting our intentions, presence, or direction.
More humanizing and loving systems will not occur if we just let things be. Our systems and institutions will not restructure themselves naturally - it requires intention, organizing, redesign, courage and perseverance. Just and resilient systems have to be called into existence, and we must remain steadfast through their remaking. We consciously expect and anticipate backlash, resistance and strife. This is why rest is required: we are at the beginning of this beautiful struggle.
"You cannot change any society unless you take responsibility for it, unless you see yourself as belonging to it, and responsible for changing it." - Grace Lee Boggs
In noticing the events of 2020, what are the lessons you learned that you want to bring into the new year? What do you want to leave behind? To what and to whom do you feel responsible?
“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” - Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Reflecting on 2020, what might the “light of truth” reveal or surface? What would shine in your mindsets, moves, decisions, or relationships? What new lessons or habits can we carry forward from this tumultuous year - and what isn’t serving us well? What can we intentionally leave behind? What are practices for collective reflection that we can explore or try?
Noticing and reflecting is not easy, but it is necessary. It requires us to see and hold painful truths about our history, our institutions, our systems, perhaps our own actions or decisions.
Like every year, December has brought its long, dark nights to our northern hemisphere. But perhaps in darkness, the light of truth can more brilliantly shine.
We wish for you this season time to pause, to center yourself, perhaps wrap yourself in familiar or reimagined traditions, in warmth and coziness. Light a candle in remembrance and recognition of our shared grief and loss in 2020. When you are ready, notice and reflect on this year. And through that reflection, set intentions for our collective liberation in 2021 and beyond.
“Day told her sister, When you are darkest is when you are most beautiful. It’s when you are most you.” from Sulwe, by Lupita Nyong'o
