I didn’t like what I wrote last week. It came out muddled and murky. But thems the breaks sometimes.
This week we are keeping it simple. It was the fourth of the July in the US and….welp….while I am grateful for and recognize many of the privileges I have in this country, as a culture built on what Adrienne Maree Brown terms a ‘genocidal act of colonization’, America has some major daddy and mommy issues to work out.
To which I say, omg ME TOO.
Don’t we all?
Not just them mommy and daddy wounds, but also our relationship to the inner oppressor within?
Yeahhhhh.
“The true focus of revolutionary change is never merely the oppressive situations that we seek to escape, but that piece of the oppressor which is planted deep within each of us.”
— Audre Lorde
I’ve been working my mommy and daddy and inner oppressor stuffs out for well over a decade. It’s a body, mind, soul and creative endeavor for me and…….
I 'think’ (chew on, taste, suck, study, bear hug, meditate with, turn over and over in every part of me) about the concept of freedom quite a bit.
What it is.
What it is not.
How often it it is attached to the word fight.
How that never felt right to me.
I’ve started a list. What would you add? Let me know in the comments.
Freedom is:
Freedom is the spark and the song.
Freedom does not divide, it unites.
Freedom is what we say we want, but requires courage to withstand.
Freedom does not have to prove itself.
Freedom is not threatened when confronted.
Freedom can never be given or taken.
Freedom does not dominate.
Freedom connects.
Freedom works within, then beyond limits, to reveal itself.
Freedom is refined by every attempt to oppress it.
Freedom does not chase or push anything away.
Freedom is what the trees have been trying to tell us for so long.
Freedom is the truth.
Freedom only happens with. Never over. Or in spite of.
Freedom is as irresistible as it is terrifying.
Freedom is content.
Freedom needs the body and earth to learn itself.
Freedom never defines itself by what it is in opposition to.
Freedom creates rather than consumes.
Freedom is the center around which infinite shapes form.
Freedom waits everywhere to be remembered.
Freedom employs the brain as tool, never master, and always works to expand the
heart.
Freedom is every color — is color you cannot yet see — is color you can always feel.
Freedom is not a flag, or a country, or a place.
Freedom does not divide, but unifies.
Freedom confuses most. And will slowly seduce all.
Freedom always sets others free.
Freedom does not need anything from you.
Freedom requires all of you.
Freedom steals your breath only to deepen it.
Freedom has no hierarchy of sensation.
Freedom shimmers. Dances. Celebrates. Expresses.
Freedom can never be stopped, only lied to.
Freedom takes responsibility for itself.
Freedom is recognizable by all, embodied by few.
Freedom does not defend or protect what is not for everyone.
Freedom moves in every direction, infinitely, at the pace of peace.
Freedom is strong enough to give.
Freedom is not obligated to save.
Freedom will take all of us.
Freedom will hold all of us.
Freedom is born in all of us.
Freedom is all.
I hope you feel free where you are. Even if it's a forgotten space you must find and expand deep within.
xx,
Yan
Thank you.
Over the past week, I've been drawn to cut my hair.
First, it was French bob. I wanted to be happy with it. Though, the razor kept pulling me. I wasn't sure why. So I gave in again, and cut it into a pixie. Each style beautiful and unique in its own way. But I was still getting pulled to do more. And this morning I fully let go, and shaved it all off. And then, before reading your words, I saw the Substack notification. FREEDOM IS. With your picture. Razor in hand. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the perfect, needed coincidence. Thank you for somehow, consistently, creating and sharing the most life saving things.
You and your work are so appreciated ☀️
Freedom always sets others free :)