field notes on tension

field notes on the study of tension:

At its core, tension is neutral and has impulses toward articulating change and transformation.

What is not neutral is how systems of dominance and oppression weaponize tension to further the agendas of violence and separation.

The models and mechanisms of empire that warp tension cannot be our only reference points for engaging tension.

Tension is our companion and accomplice on our journeys of liberation.

It is possible to engage non-generative tension in generative ways that affirm life; our current reality is evidence of this. Our practices of openly grieving, staying engaged and aware of what is happening, sharing information, rooting in community, protesting and disrupting, engaging in acts of solidarity and mutual aid, and caring for ourselves and one another are clear evidence.

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notes on generative tension

I'm in the study of discerning the difference between tension that flattens our fields of practice, distracts us, isolates us, and narrows access to ecosystems of care versus tension that is generative and inspires ecological responses to its presence and all that it stirs within us collectively and individually.
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As a recovering people pleaser who previously vowed to diffuse tension at any cost in my youth, it never occurred to me that tension could be generative and might require a response or holding greater than my own as an individual. It never occurred to me that I could resource myself via webs of ecology to meet tension and all it stirred.
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Much of this study has required me to sloooooow down and work on lovingly interrupting my conditioned reactions to tension in general so that I can discern what flavor of tension is arising and respond accordingly.
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There is more to be shared, and I hope to do that soon.
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In the meantime, what tension is stirring in your life?
Where and how do you experience it?
Do you have a practice of discerning between different kinds of tension?
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Onward towards love & liberation.

[Quote on tan background with a warm neutral and pink watercolor curve in opposite corners reads Reminder- keep saying "yes" to generative tension. generative tension enables change and stirs the field of possibility. generative tension evokes ecological responses to change and communal visioning into new possibilities.]
#ase #learning #tension #ecology #ecologicalbeing #discernment #ancestralwisdom #ancestralconnection #community #visions #dreaming #kin #inspire #ecologicalresponse #resources #stirringthepot #growing #change #love #possibility