On Self & Community Care
This article is Part 2 of a mini series on Reimagining Care. Part 1, ‘Reimagining Care in a Post-COVID World’ is available here.
Our last article concluded with a cause for recognising that systems of oppression all exist within the dimensions of one another, which requires the dismantling of all systems of inequality, to eradicate all of these injustices, “before we can begin to heal”. But how do we ensure that we are allowing ourselves the time and the space to be able to begin the healing process? How can we be there for others while also showing up for ourselves?
We are living in a time of global disconnection in which devalued groups are living in condemned isolation. At the moment this can most vividly be seen within the context of the Black Lives Matter Movement — institutionalised racism which has been enacted within our interpersonal relationships; some in subtle and others in obvious ways. This current movement is steeped in years of deep human suffering rooted in oppression, aggression, and marginalisation.
But what has this to do with self-care? Talking of capitalist structures and feminist perspectives of care may seem a little far from your daily self-care meditation practice. Well, they are in fact opposite sides of the same coin. In the face of this global disassociation, there have been endeavours to connect with ourselves in order…
