The Internal Narratives We Tell Ourselves, And How We Can Help Each Other

This article is about understanding the narratives we tell ourselves, and how it effects our daily living.

The Black Lives Matter BLM# movement has taken place this year of COVID 2020.  BLM is a social injustice collaboration with people worldwide to end the injustice of systemic and overt and covert racism in America and beyond.

We’ve seen countless African American lives lost to poverty, injustice in the schools, injustice in their homes, injustice in their workplace, injustice riding a bike, only for being the color of their skin.

One time is way too many.  We need to understand how the racism is played out and how we can stop it.

Here are some actions we can take to better understand the fight, how we can validate it, and how we can help ourselves and each other.

1. Educate ourselves.
2. Understand the narratives we’ve been brought up to believe need to be audited by ourselves.
3. Ask questions, there are no dumb ones.  We need to learn by having those uncomfortable conversations and not feel we are in danger when we understand others opinions and narratives that they have learned on their time on earth.
4. Read, read, read.  Read history, ask questions, get help.
5. Speak to others about their experiences with racism, how it felt, how it effected them and others, what they did about it, and maybe how they’d do it differently.
6. Have the difficult conversations with family and friends.
7. Support and validate others feelings, and sometimes it’s ok to agree to disagree.
8. Introspection is critical when thinking about your own circles of friends.  Why are we friends?  What is the common thread that holds us together.
9. Audit and research the companies you support, to see whether or not you’d like to support that culture before working there.
10. Donate to the causes that you feel are making a positive difference in the education and lives of others.
11. Dive into your own religious beliefs and question why you believe what you believe.  Do your research in your Bible, etc. Is your religion perpetuating an underlying support of white supremacy or patriarchy?  Is it inclusive and support the greater good?
12. Audit your social media accounts.  Why am I following this person?  Is it because of a belief I have?
13. Audit how you feel after you read or watch the media.  Time is and then do an analysis after to see how you feel.  Has it challenged you?  Is it making you feel bad?  I know I have also unsubscribed from politics this election year and those that oversubscribe to it.

I hope these helped!  Would love to hear how you are coping this year in the comments below.  Please share your suggestions or ways we can help and support each other during this time.  Thanks for reading!