insight arising

We are no different from the Atlanta killer, Robert Aaron Long.  The colonial capitalist patriarchy, and its associated structures and institutions, reinforces the cultivation of inner hatred and oppression in each of us. The system breeds this inner hatred and oppression, seeking ultimately to keep us divided.  To believe we are separate from this white man who murdered eight innocent people in Atlanta would confine us to exactly what the system wants - supremacist ways. To view ourselves as different from him keeps us from seeing the complexities of our human experience as well as the structural systems that entrap all of us. To hate him and everything he represents in return will keep us deluded from the healing we all desperately need individually and collectively.   Robert Aaron Long is unfortunately an ugly mirror for each of us. To see how gruesomely and tragically our inner pain can unravel left ignored. To see where within us do we hold our own hatred or dislike of self, shame

All my life, I saw my heart as weak.  I grew up being told that my tears were cowardly. That my sensitivities left me too exposed and indefensible to the world. That the soft ways of my heart were signs of my fragility and unsteadiness.  My mom often expressed her greatest concern for me being out in the world, especially when it came to love and relationships.  Má  sợ con sẽ b ị  ăn hiếp.   I am afraid you will be abused or bullied.  My mom was 21 when she had my oldest brother. She was 29 when her entire family left her behind in Vietnam, when the war ended and my dad was taken to communist camp leaving her behind with 3 small children. She was 32 when they escaped by boat with nothing but a few dollars.  Con  phải   giống   Má .  You must be like me.   Strong, resilient, unbothered, and unfuckwitable. All the qualities opposite of a weak heart.  Con  là   cọp giấy .  You are a paper tiger.  Not a real tiger. Bite-less. Weak and needing protection.  These things I heard growing up cr

The snow is melting and the first signs of life are re-emerging. Small blades of grass and flowers are beginning to sprout through the remaining layers of icy slush. Earthly signs of a beautiful new genesis.  Winter is over.  The sun's warmth is here. She illuminates wonder upon the seeds that were planted. I look up at her, gently smiling.  My life's longest stretch of winter is finally approaching its point of transition.  Relief slowly comes over my body and my spirit begins to lift.  After setting down the last bit of weight I was carrying, my hands are now fully free to shape and create life, allowing my spirit to transpire fully into the artistry of who I am.  In this new season, my intention is to continue integrating all parts of me. The opposing parts of me. The paradoxical parts of me. The renewing parts of me. The parts of me still developing. My aim is wholeness. Stepping bravely into wholeness, bringing together light and dark, deepening balance within, and bringin