the process of liberation

Who Can Free Us?

It is only the oppressed who, by freeing themselves, can free their oppressors. The latter, as an oppressive class, can free neither others nor themselves. It is therefore essential that the oppressed wage the struggle to resolve the contradiction in which they are caught, and the contradiction will be resolved by the appearance of the new (wo)man: neither oppressor nor oppressed, but (wo)man in the process of liberation. If the goal of the oppressed is to become fully human, they will not achieve their goal by merely reversing the terms of the contradiction, by simply changing poles.

Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

via inward/outward

wonderful, glorious me

okay, this is SO out of my range and element i just have to force myself to leave those words on the title... one of my goals for 2007 is to become more comfortable in my skin and aware of an content with my body. this is the first exercise i am doing in that vein. sorry guys, this is rather personal - read at your own risk.

a couple of weeks ago hugo had a link to a blog i have never read before, but the idea struck me so deeply i knew i needed to participate:

Zuzu has a post up this morning: Wonderful, Glorious, Me. She writes:

Let me try to open up the floor to give us a chance to do something together.

We’re conditioned, particularly as women, to be self-deprecating, to not take up space, to not revel in our bodies and ourselves. We can get 150 comments in a thread about when we realized that we were aware our bodies weren’t up to snuff; let’s see how many we can generate praising ourselves.

Your mission: list at least five things you love about your body and yourself. Five is the floor; you can always do more. And no self-deprecation! No offsetting a compliment with a dig.

this will take just about everything i have to do this. i am capable of recognizing postive things about "my self" but horrible at recognizing them about my body, so i am limiting myself to 5 things i "LOVE" (gosh that is a strong word) about my body. here goes:

1. i have beautiful hair. it is thick, bright, unique and mine. i have had strangers stop me in public to ask me about my hair or compliment me, and even had a male friend in college ask me one day if he could just touch it. i even had a hairdresser in toronto steal my hair as he cut it. this was before the days of extensions and 'locks for life' and i was very relieved to hear that he was going to sell it and not go home and spread it all over his bed and roll in it.
2. i am well proportioned. nothing looks out of place on me. although i am big i am shapely and rubenesque in the right places.
3. i have great gams. i take after my mother, she had beautiful legs too.
4. my feet are very pretty and feminine.
5. i am happy with my breasts. it feels very weird to say that here, but that's what this is for, right?
6. i couldn't come up with a #6 if i was held at gunpoint.

okay - your turn. guys if you've read this far and have body issues too feel free to play along. but ladies - you know who you are, consider yourself tagged.

wonderful, glorious me.

give the gift of freedom this christmas

now this is christmas - he came to set the captives free!

give the gift of freedom this christmas!

king of shame

i've been having a great conversation over email about our thought life and shame. I copied a bit of my last email to share:

'the answer comes for me in 'taking every thought captive'. this for me is the key to maintaining daily victory over my thought life.

one of the difficulties in dealing with this issue is that we confuse temptation with sin. temptation isn't sin, but we don't remember that, and the shame that is generated in us - compulsively causes us to feel like failures.

it's when we realize that even jesus was tempted, yet without sin, that we break the power of satan's lies and are able to 'take every thought captive'. if the shame kicks in before we realize it we are stuck in the cycle.

when i am tempted now i have a little ritual, and it seems to work. i use the example of jesus in the garden. i say, out loud (because the devil can't read your mind) 'get thee behind me satan, in jesus' name amen'. i know it sounds a bit simplistic or childish, but it really works. it allows me to 'take every thought captive'. sometimes i whisper it under my breath, and sometimes i scream it at the computer. there are many times i have to change location, turn off the tv, get a breath of fresh air, etc. but many times that little prayer ritual is all it takes to realign my thoughts, realize i'm being tempted and free myself from the shame that usually followed.

it is truly all about the shame.'

one of the things i was never taught at home or by the church was that there was a difference between guilt and shame. guilt comes from the holy spirit when we have sinned, it is natural and god given. shame comes straight from the pit of hell and causes nothing but pain and problems, addictions and sin.

guilt say, 'i've done something wrong', shame says 'i am wrong'. it's because of it's subtlety that it is so dangerous. satan wants me to believe that they are the same thing - but seperating them and realizing how insidious shame is that i began to see it's effect in my life.

guilt brings life, shame only death. guilt that has been ignored or neglected can lead to shame, but if i keep my lists short and make the amends i need to make i can live a life free of shame.