Mid ramadan reflection: I'm learning to be patient with uncertainty and it's hard work
Reflections from the first ten days of Ramadan, a new workshop offering, and an incredible event from the SFU Renovate the Public Hearing Team
We’re past the first ten days of Ramadan, known as the days of mercy, and this transition as well as the start of spring has made me pause and reflect as I plan out the next season of life and work. Here are some of my recent reflections:
I’d like to work with groups/people again
My deepest reflection/learning recently is I would like to work with more purpose and value aligned people, organizations, groups again. I’ve been on a quasi medical leave over the past few months, but I’m learning that I’m not getting well anytime soon, and so I’m adjusting to this new reality. Chronic illness shapes the way I work and the volume of work I can take on, but I still have much I want to do and contribute.
Here are some upcoming ways we can connect:
Workshop: Creating a Faith Friendly Workplace: Held on May 30th from 11-12:30 PST, this 90 minute workshop is an opportunity to learn more about how to address the needs of employees who hold religious/faith/spiritual identities. This is a particularly good workshop if you manage staff or work with people of diverse spiritual and religious traditions. Between now and April 7th, you can use the code FRIENDS15 to get 15% off your ticket price.
Equity Coaching/Strategic Advising: If you are looking for an advisor to help you deepen the equity analysis of your project/initiative/program, lets chat. Within the context of a large public service agency, I’ve worked with many groups and folks to embed equity considerations into their work/research/projects over the past couple of years (and before that as a consultant), and strategic advising is a particular strength of mine. I’ve gotten the vast majority of my consulting work in the past through individuals getting in touch with me because there is alignment between our work/our approach and our values. This leads to better partnerships and frankly, the RFP process has tremendous equity challenges. Send an email at seriously.planning @ gmail. com if you’d like to get in touch.
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Daily practice is where accessible learning happens
Recently I’ve been planning out the next stage of my somatics learning journey and have been making some decisions about investing in my learning, investment decisions that require more risk and uncertainty than I’m typically comfortable with.
But as I’ve been making these decisions, I’ve been thinking about how accessible Ramadan is as a self-transformation opportunity. In an era of credentials and accredited offerings, one does not need to go anywhere to experience Ramadan. The month itself is the retreat centre, with embodied and repeated learning practices that are of no-cost to participate in. Each day, each moment is a complete container to practice new ways of being. It takes deep intention and awareness to consider one’s speech before speaking, to ground before reacting, to actively consider the values you want to embody and to then try and act in service of those values. It takes energy.
Because this takes work to change and work is hard, I find myself often curious and impatient about the outcome of the month, wanting to see some internal or external signs of personal transformation that will endure past the end of Ramadan. I easily get stuck on outcomes rather than process, and become anxious about what this month will bring forth.
So every day this month, over and over again, I am reminding myself that change takes place at its own pace and that each moment is valuable. I am reminding myself to slow down, detangle myself from urgency and focus on the here and now, and the opportunities before me. So much of my month so far has been an exercise in practice and patience, reminding myself to breathe and to operate from a balanced sense of trust and love and hope and striving, rather than fear.
And outside of Ramadan, daily practices such as meditation, prayer, careful speech, intentional action and movement all offer an opportunity for embodied learning and transformation. Embodied learning and practice offers an opportunity for learning to go from the cognitive to the physical.
The best way to ensure equity excellence is talented diverse leadership and teams
A few days ago I attended a dialogue held by the SFU “Renovate the Public Hearing Initiative” about renovating public hearings, and I admit, I was nervous going in. I don’t like break-out rooms. I don’t like being in conversation with strangers, and in discussions about planning and cities, I often am one of, if not the only Muslim in the discussion, which can feel exhausting. The exhaustion, and the high potential for harm translates into an experience that is not enjoyable, and so as a general rule, I try to avoid participation as much as I can.
The session I attended was the opposite. So much of this was because of the incredible Renovate the Public Hearing team, and in particular the leadership of Amina Yasin. The team created a day that felt pleasurable and energizing and filled with insights. Public hearings as an institution are broken, antagonistic and harmful, in contrast the session I attended was designed with tremendous community care and intentionality - from gift cards that arrived before the event even took place, to having lots of BIPOC folks on the Zoom call, to having people from different spheres of leadership and community participating, to having spacious break-out sessions and materials that arrived well in advance of the day of the event. Most importantly for me, I was not the only Muslim on the call, and I could sink into simply being myself and having my own experience.
The day began with a powerful story about Khadija, a Black, Muslim woman working two jobs, in need of housing, who hears one day about a new proposed housing project that could meet her needs. Despite her multiple commitments she wants to express how important this project is to her survival and the dignity of her family but realizes that though accessing this housing would be life-affirming for her, opponents to the project are describing her and her community as “dark specters of doom” threatening the safety of the neighbourhoods.
I’m still thinking about the story, and how, as a result of that community care and planning on the part of the design team, I learned a tremendous amount. I enjoyed the experience rather than having to de-escalate afterwards, and I made a friend. I also feel much more motivated to attend a public hearing now - despite having looked at public hearings in my graduate education when I was studying conflicts that emerge when mosque applications are in the development process, my experience with public hearings is limited. The day was a reminder that conversations about planning and cities relate to me too.
Below the paywall, my favourite reads from the week.
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