Healing Books 📚 (TW: mentions of SA & CA)

I'm in the journey of decolonizing my mind, body & spirit. Decolonizing to me is healing & understanding where I come from. I'm recognizing the harmful stereotypes I was forced to believe about myself & other marginalized groups around me.

I deserve to heal. I deserve to break free from my internalized biases. So here's some books I found liberating & why.

1. An African American & Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz. I'm just starting this book. But there's a part where he says: "I was taught by the white adults around me that 'the Blacks and Mexicans' (the two groups were constantly paired in derision in the discourse of the post–civil rights era) had contributed nothing to the United States."

This never changed. As someone who is also biracial but was raised by a whyt latina mother, I was also taught that same message. Which made me feel ashamed of who I am. That also taught me that my ancestors didn't take up space. Like ghosts who were nameless & didn't fight back against the violence they received. Which was wrong. They fought back. The many movements that sprouted today that came from the seeds of my ancestors had work in their fight for their humanity & our own (as Black & Brown ppl). I think they would be proud.

2. Finding Latinx: In Search of The Voices Redefining Latino Identity by Paola Ramos. I'm a decendant of multiple groups of ppl who've been displaced. Either through white vigilante violence (Rosewood, Oscarville, Tulsa etc.) or due to American Imperialism (Exploitation of our labor, gen0cide through forced hysterectomies etc.) Puerto Rico.

My family had no choice but to move to Philadelphia, PA to make a better life for themselves b/c our land was taken from us through the forced labor my ancestors had to endure. It's hard to find your voice when you live in a country that hides it or takes it & replaces it w/ something that makes them comfortable. Dehumanizing other Black & Brown around us.

3. My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and The Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem. I haven't read this yet. But trauma gets trapped in the body. Especially racialized trauma. That kind of trauma damages how we view ourselves & our community as Black& Brown ppl. It takes away our humanity & makes us believe things that aren't true.

4. Meeting the Shadow on The Spiritual Path: The Darkness & Light in Our Search for Awakening by Connie Zweig PhD. I believe that whyt supremacy has not only harmed our bodies & minds but also our spirit. By demonizing our connection to spirit & replacing it with something that they could control. Shadow Work is a great place to unpack any & every beliefs that was manufactured by whyt supremacy. B/c we deserve to heal in all aspects of ourselves. So, I use a lot of Shadow

Work in my healing process.

5. Not That Bad: Dispatches From [G]Rape Culture Edited by Roxane Grey. This explore excuses of what we would tell ourselves about the abuse we go through. The harm that would cause us. Where it comes from. I'm a survivor of SA & CA. I've been taught to make excuses for my abusers. So I could blame myself instead of holding them accountable. I viewed the trauma I went through as "not that bad", b/c not only I thought I deserved punishment but I was minimizing what happened to me b/c I was normalizing the violence I went through. B/c I've internalized the belief that my body deserved pain.

6. The Art of Showing up: How to be There For Yourself & Your People by Rachel Wilkerson Miller. I struggle to show up for myself. I don't meditate often even though I know that it helps with my PTSD (I realized this is actually a self harming habit I have). I feel like I'm reminded that it's ok to breathe & give myself what I need. Ask myself what I need. So that I can show up for my communities.

7. The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering The Religion of The Earth by Monica Sjöö & Barbara Mor. The patriarchy really shaped how we see Spirituality & how we see ourselves. I realized I viewed myself in a limited way, which benefits whyt supremacy (the patriarchy is a tool of whyt supremacy). I feel like I'm giving back to earth by releasing myself from the patriarchy.

8. Personal Power Through Awareness by Sanya Roman. I'm taking back my power. Back from whyt supremacy, from my abusers, my mom & everyone else who harmed me. Being aware of my own personal power makes me feel very liberated.

#booksrecommendation #healingjourney #healingbooks #selfhelpbooks #healing #dismantlingwhytsupremacy #Lemon8Diary