Calling all Changelings

Early November was intense. And at the moment the race was called, I felt relief from the feelings of anger and despair that had engulfed me in the days leading into and the days after the election. Those days I was reminded of the book by Astra Taylor, Democracy May Not Exist, But We'll Miss It When It's Gone.  The joy I witnessed in the days after the election was called was contagious. I had worked as much as I could on the national, state, and local elections and I was glad to see where community organizing won. We have to claim all the victories, no matter how small. We also have to appreciate all the people who put time and energy into organizing. So many organizations made this happen including people at Seed the Vote who connected volunteers from across the country with local organizations doing long-term deep organizing in Florida, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. 

I am neither a democrat or a republican, I vote according to my values of love, sustainability, and liberation. It was heart-breaking to see the election results come in. 73 million people preferred the rising toll of deaths from COVID-19, family separation, and kids in cages over a democrat with uncontroversial politics, a politician who aims to find compromises. Our challenges in the U.S. are complicated and will take generations to change. While the material conditions of our communities will change with a different president, changing our habits, mindsets, and beliefs will not. People will continue to believe that our system of justice “keeps the peace,” that families seeking refuge are criminals, or that racism doesn’t exist. The U.S. has elected a new president, but the villain is not dead. Racism, classism, ableism, transphobia, and sexism are not only alive in our society, they are thriving. They are beliefs, ways of thinking, that are woven into the fabric of our society. They will take time to unroot at all levels of our society:  internalized, interpersonal, institutionalized, and cultural.

What we now face is an adaptive challenge.

Our culture of hero worship has taught us to believe that we can avoid disasters with a single action led by a person or group of people. What we at Colibri do as organizers, is focus on leadership development. One way we develop leaders is by sharing and practicing adaptive leadership, a term introduced to me in the book Leadership on the Line by Martin Linsky and Ronald A. Heifetz. Most leaders think that their challenges are technical and they often apply technical solutions to adaptive challenges.

Adaptive challenges linger and are not solvable with a change of rules or practices, what needs to shift is deeply rooted. We will have to shift how we view the world, our minds must expand. We will have to be led by those who know the problem at a visceral level not solely an intellectual one. The problem is so complex that solutions may have ripple effects we were not expecting, so we will have to try things, make mistakes, learn, and adjust. This work is really hard and incredibly beautiful to participate in.

Are you a changeling?

I believe that we can thrive as a species and as a planet, but we need to embrace change. We need to be willing to do the internal work to address our own biases and relationship to power, from power-over to power-with and power-within. We need to change our internalized belief in white supremacy. We need to change our relationship with nature; we are part of a system and not the main character, and lastly, we need to reconnect with our hearts and spirits and let them guide us instead of letting our ego be the conductor of our actions.

Change

is the one unavoidable,

irresistible,

ongoing reality of the universe.

To us,

that makes it the most powerful reality,

and just another word for

God.

-Octavia Butler, Earthseed: The Books of the Living, Lauren Oya Olamina

On our journey to change our internal beliefs and practices, we also need to work in our community and share our journey with others. We must be vulnerable in sharing our mistakes and be willing to hold others, especially those that we love, accountable for their own actions, and be open to hear how our own actions and beliefs may not be in alignment with liberation. Our community norms and practices can only change when we take the responsibility to serve as culture keepers and shapers humbly and compassionately.

At Colibri we know that change is hard, and change is best done in community. Like the butterfly’s metamorphosis, change happens in stages with unique gifts and pains at each stage. We help leaders and teams take on the biggest challenges and manifest change by getting clear and staying grounded in their purpose to facilitate a path forward. We’d love to learn more about your change journey, professionally or personally, and learn from you or explore how we can support.

Image description and information:

Photo by Alessandro Zazza

A close up picture of a green caterpillar on a stick.