So how do we cultivate that safe space? It starts with knowledge. I found out things about myself and others. I discovered what I attracted in my life. I honored my own complicity. I learned from my actions and the actions of those around me. My closest friends taught me my most important lessons and for that I am forever grateful. My family set the foundation for me to even recognize the lessons my friends would bring. As a child I cried a lot, a whole lot. I was a very sensitive child. Witnessing at a young age matriarchs mourning at the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and so many ancestors. Seeing neighborhoods change and losing so many of our men to oppression, violence, and injustice. Growing up in this world you learn that you have to try to be less sensitive. That was difficult for me, I just am a sensitive human being. But why would I compromise my true nature—my sensitivity? Intuitive and organic I have a real belief in the divine. I tap into my Indigenous nature through intuition and storytelling. This is where my sensitivity gives rise to protection of my nature—but only if I honor it.
How to Create Safe Space for Yourself
How to Create Safe Space for Yourself
Safe spaces have to be cultivated from a deep desire to understand true self-care, self-love and compassion for one’s process or the process one might find themselves in. It’s what I think of when I consider the lives of Nelson Mandela and Harriet Tubman, and what they had to cultivate for themselves in adversity. Even if it’s in your imagination at first, visualize and actualize in the mind the spaces that create safety. The safety is you and everything you come with.
A 6-Minute Guided Meditation to Move from Safe to Brave
Take Your Safe Space Out Into the World
Take Your Safe Space Out Into the World
A brave space is taking that safe space and moving it into the unknown. We must move into that brave space if we’re going to interact with the wider world at all. When the foundation of trust is apparent and lives in the self-image, we have the capacity to move in and out of brave spaces. Even then, personal ownership is the conduit. Taking ownership of the lens through which we see things is really important. Imagine someone with a really angry personality. Watch how they create their brave space. Watch the environment respond to their anger. An angry person creates a safe space with other angry people showing up as bullies. You see them moving into the world, starting fights, causing resonance with each other, angry people who are trying to create a safe space. To them the world looks like a violent place. They are attracting the vibration they express the most. On the other hand, a person with a very loving personality will create their brave space from that position of love. The environment will respond to their loving energy. The internal energy of what a safe space cultivates expands to the external. The internal being safe, the external being brave. This doesn’t mean that we will always be met with what we desire. Especially for Black, Indigenous and People of Color, as we stay in the lane of compassion we still need to be able to speak to the truth in the room. We have to become a people transparent and honest about what we need and want in our lives. The way I give myself permission to say what needs to be said is to talk about the fragility first. To make space and time to mourn, observe, and heal. The hard stuff has to be discussed first—that’s how a safe space is cultivated. Our wisdom in the world is passed on through experiences, stories, and interaction with the environment from the people around us. We create our safe spaces and then our brave space as an extension of the trust we have in ourselves and the environment that sustains us.
READ MORE
READ MORE
Steven Hickman July 8, 2020
Boo Boafo January 18, 2021
Shelly Tygielski January 16, 2019
Rashid Hughes February 19, 2021
