On Silence

I'm out as a Jewish Palestinian Ally and I'm out as a Survivor of childhood sexual abuse and incest and rape. I'm trying to change the conversations we have so that there is transparency and ease (yes, ease) around difficult ideas and topics to prove that silence is not our friend. The women at the Survivors Summit (https://survivorsagenda.org) over the past 3 days were so inspiring to me and reminded me that silence is a kind of violence, and I think we do ourselves harm by diminishing ourselves through our silences and then by the way we blame ourselves for being silent. 

Silence for me was a strategy for survival. Silence is a scary thing to break. But consider the difficult position we put ourselves in (because our cultures put us there first), consider being blamed for speaking out and being blamed for remaining silent. If I am to be blamed either way, I'd prefer speaking. Writing gives me the opportunity to shape the urgent impulses I have so that the work can speak to many. 

I'm not suggesting you put yourself in any personal danger. 

If we are constantly asking ourselves how dare we say this, questioning ourselves at every turn, where is the opportunity to find our voice? How can we learn to trust ourselves? How can we create a practice to recognize our innate wisdom that can't be shared yet because we aren't able to open the channel to find its flow? We must begin with a sense of possibility. From this crack of light, we learn freedom. 

I suggest starting a practice of self-compassion. The Buddhists call it Metta or Maitri and these are google-able practices worth learning. https://www.doyou.com/maitri-practices-for-developing-loving-kindness-for-oneself/

Bravery grows like any other plant via nurturing light and love. That is what Brave Space tries to offer all of us. I hope you'll join me!