Jews Talk Racial Justice - Ep 16: Ways of Knowing and Finding Ease
QUICK EPISODE OVERVIEW
April and Tracie discuss different ways we process our experiences and knowledge: intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual. We notice the way, especially when those modes are out of balance, we sometimes make things harder than they need to be.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
All of our episodes have closed captioning.
Click here to access the audio version and transcript on Buzzsprout.
Tracie and April discuss four different modalities of being: emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical and how we naturally tend to some over others. For Tracie, she believes she relies on her mental/cerebral. What about you? What modalities of being do you operate most in and which ones do you want to practice trying on more?
Tracie names Tara Brach’s RAIN process for processing various thoughts/emotions: R is recognize, A for allow, I investigate, and N is nurture, which you to recognize what is happening, what is actually happening, allow it to be, investigate where it comes from, and this investigation is more like a massage therapist then nurture. Figure out what that set of circumstances needs, and try to make that available. How does this resonate with you? Have you tried it before? What area of your life can you try this on?
April brings up how limiting thoughts can keep us from our potential. What are some of the limiting thoughts you have about yourself? What would it feel like to let them go or reframe them?
April offered an insight that she had and explains how there are ways in her life where she brings immense effort, where she maybe she doesn’t have to. She uses the example of a large boulder she thinks she has to lift but does not realize that there is a lift with keys in its ignition if only she slowed down to notice. How can this apply to your life? Where are you exerting more effort than you need to where they may be an easier solution close by?
INSIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE
“I think that there are ways in my life where I bring immense effort, where there’s a way to achieve arguably more than I’m achieving right now if I can physically and spiritually embody more trust and still show up to work. But it’s, like, am I looking for rocks to lift? Or am I am I noticing that there is actually keys in the ignition of a lift next to me, and if I just paused enough to notice, there’s resource right there, that rather than me trying to lift boulders, by engaging what already is and slowing down enough.”
“For me, a lot of it comes back to relaxation, which I don’t wanna conflate with when something’s hard or there’s trauma coming from that. At times, we’ve been trained, and it’s a part of white supremacy culture, actually, around the bigger, the more, the efforting, the industrial. But actually, can we breathe and lean more into feminine-inspired wisdom and mindfulness wisdom? It’s funny, ‘cause mindfulness is actually about not engaging your mind as much as actually just about presence, about spiritually-tuned peace.”
COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS?
Post in the comments below!