Practicing a politic of care and love for ourselves and each other
While previous models of human health and well-being have focused on the absence of illness and suffering, researchers have come to identify the conditions and practices that human beings need to thrive, flourish, and emerge—to be fully ourselves. Oppressive power structures and toxic ideologies of power-over and better-than have disrupted ancestral knowledge and practice of being in right relationship to ourselves, our bodies, our minds, each other, our communities, and the earth. Inspired by the body of knowledge emerging from various fields of science, as well as from community leaders and elders, we understand Wellness as the human experience of showing up in the full expression of ourselves and with the full capacity to experience the world, others, and ourselves in every moment, and be in right relationship with each of these experiences and connections. We our best able to practice this wellness when oppressive structures are not constraining our freedom nor our contributions. Throughout our work, whether guiding organizations through racial and social justice trainings or organization-wide transformational processes through Appreciative Inquiry, we are seeking the conditions and practices necessary for humans to learn, engage, and express themselves, making it possible to fully contribute to the mission and wellness of their organizations. Simultaneously, we seek the conditions necessary for organizations to contribute to the wellness of individuals, creating a mutually beneficial relationship that propels organizations to fully move in the direction of the mission they are created and designed to pursue.