![\"approach\"](\"http:\/\/universalpartnership.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/approach-e14183403054821.png\")
<\/a>The work imperative within social justice organizations \u2013 taking action (working) as much as possible \u2013 ironically & tragically ends up sabotaging an organization\u2019s capacity for effective action. We push ourselves, our work, & those around us, becoming increasingly ineffectual because we have not stopped to replenish our physical, emotional & mental health. This deterioration promotes cynicism, strains temperance & trust within relationships, & thus diminishes both our desire & our ability for collective vision & action.<\/p>\nThis same cycle of self-neglecting service is also pervasive within oppressed communities, as citizens take on the burdens of economic & social disparity.\u00a0 Many of us come to this work because we, or the people we love, have experienced deep injustice. These experiences shape a negative understanding of our self-worth & potential for empowered action. When instinctual mistrust of ourselves & others goes unchallenged, we end up taking actions that reinforce\/recycle the wounds of oppression within ourselves & within our relationships.<\/p>\n
At the heart of this dynamic is the thinking that self-care is an indulgence. In the social justice work ethic, it is a waste of otherwise productive time.\u00a0 At the \u201cmacho\u201d end of this thinking, self-care can even be seen as harmful; making us less effective by \u201csoftening\u201d the rigidity of our focus & resolve. Most importantly, behind these canards lies an oppressed worldview \u2013 internalized from our own experiences and\/or from the communities we serve \u2013 that convinces us we do not deserve it.<\/p>\n
Our self- & community-narratives are a psychological state, but also significantly shape our emotional state, or mood. Finally, both of these shape our very bodies, as pessimistic thoughts & emotions bend our postures & lower our heads. Going the opposite direction, the stresses we put on our bodies produce moods that sour our opinion of ourselves, relationships, organizations & communities.<\/p>\n
It is hard to imagine that liberated individuals, communities, societies or worlds can emerge from these broken fragments that make up the individual & collective bodies driving the work today.<\/p>\n