Happy Wednesday Reader!

We've got just about a week until my 6-week course on inner work begins! If you're interested in learning some new practices and engaging them alongside others, there's a couple spots still open. 🙂

Here's 1 teaching, 2 questions, and 3 resources to explore this week:

1. Teaching

For the past several years, I’ve used the popular “spheres of influence” framework as a foundation for bringing my inner work and activism together in a holistic way.

But I was recently introduced to a new model – one that I think is a lot more helpful.

It’s called Sites of Shaping/Sites of Change and here’s how it works:

We are always living our lives within a broader social context.

Our individual life has been shaped by our families, communities, institutions, and so on. On the other side, because of our presence and the ways in which we participate in both private and public spaces, we have a role in shaping our families, communities, institutions, and so on. Each of these sites holds great possibilities for change within us as well as, through our participation, within them.

This is why inner work can’t be isolated work – we live and breathe within a web of interconnection and relationship.

Staci Haines, author of The Politics of Trauma, speaks about the model this way:

So how can we use this model to go deeper into our inner work?

First, I invite you to do a quick brainstorm: who resides in each of these sites for you? What are the names of the people within them? What is the quality of your relationships within each site? What is the vibe? What is the feel?

Then, after you've textured the sites a bit for yourself, think about how you and the sites have shaped each other.

Below are two questions I’ve found myself working with – if they resonate, try starting with them and see what other questions and stories emerge.

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2. Questions

1. In what ways have I have been shaped within each of these sites?
2. How can I respond to the invitation toward healing and solidarity and justice within each of these sites?

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3. Resources

• "Sites of Shaping" with Staci Haines (video)
• "Anger, Activism, and Healing" with Lama Rod Owens and Nova Reid (extended video)
• ​Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown (book)

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⏪ If you missed last week's email:

Sending you good vibes,

Andrew

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P.S. If you're on the fence about whether or not to join the upcoming 6-week course, please reach out and ask any questions you have! I just finalized the 51-page guidebook of practices and activities (it was only supposed to be 20 pages 😂) and I'm really excited for what will emerge during our time together.

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Explore your experience of defensiveness I'm really excited to co-host this event with my friend Caryn Berley on October 1st! If you're interested in exploring ways to learn from your experience of defensiveness and move into a more healing posture, I'd love to see you there. Learn more >