OMG….nothing makes more more mad towards the “wellness” and “self-help” communities than this idea that you/we have complete control over our (mental and physical) wellness. That is such a privileged and nearsighted and damaging and victim-blaming and shaming idea it makes me want to scream. (And screaming is putting it mildly.) I am a meditation instructor, and I even have Masters in Applied Meditation, and I cannot tell you how many times in a day/week I have to push back against that privileged idea. That concept lets so many systems, structures, bad actors, and just plain luck of where and when you are born, off the hook. It feels like it actually serves really awful systems: marketing, capitalism, racism, diet culture, misogyny, homophobia, classism, child abuse (actual abuse, not Texas’ version) etc…because if we are blaming ourselves for our un-wellness then our eyes are diverted from the larger systems at play at best, actually serving those systems (and people) in their abuses at worst. Investing in a wellness practice like meditation CAN be a tool for more clearly seeing how little control we actually have and for clearly seeing the suffering around us and more clearly motivating us to create active change towards more equitable control for everyone. But only If we are able to allow the discomfort that comes with seeing those things. Maybe feeling “peace and bliss” right now is NOT an answer, maybe feeling the pain of our lack of control and the pain of oppressive systems operating in our world today, maybe feeling “unwell” with all this IS an appropriate empathetic human response. Maybe it’s what we need to feel right now because it reveals our humanity. I have been actively pushing back against this “we have control, it’s all about our own internal perception” trope all week, and I am tired. But, I’ll keep pushing.
Brilliant. So clever. In the same vein, last month Fidelity sent me an email, this is for real, wait for it -- telling me to celebrate Black History Month by reviewing my retirement account.
Mar 3, 2022·edited Mar 3, 2022Liked by Jessica DeFino
Thank you for this... From a very scared and worried Europe, all the false cheer and promise of endless improvements on the Self seem grotesque at this point - even Oprah's praising of ,,Courage as the greatest value" made me barf. So thank you. Xxx
Absolutely brilliant! I came across a phrase in the current feminist book I am reading (The Rise of Enlighted Sexism) that I thought you'd appreciate: beauty-industrial complex. It definitely feels like the beauty industry is comparable to the military-industrial complex. It is after all, an ever hungry monster that never stops growing.
OMG….nothing makes more more mad towards the “wellness” and “self-help” communities than this idea that you/we have complete control over our (mental and physical) wellness. That is such a privileged and nearsighted and damaging and victim-blaming and shaming idea it makes me want to scream. (And screaming is putting it mildly.) I am a meditation instructor, and I even have Masters in Applied Meditation, and I cannot tell you how many times in a day/week I have to push back against that privileged idea. That concept lets so many systems, structures, bad actors, and just plain luck of where and when you are born, off the hook. It feels like it actually serves really awful systems: marketing, capitalism, racism, diet culture, misogyny, homophobia, classism, child abuse (actual abuse, not Texas’ version) etc…because if we are blaming ourselves for our un-wellness then our eyes are diverted from the larger systems at play at best, actually serving those systems (and people) in their abuses at worst. Investing in a wellness practice like meditation CAN be a tool for more clearly seeing how little control we actually have and for clearly seeing the suffering around us and more clearly motivating us to create active change towards more equitable control for everyone. But only If we are able to allow the discomfort that comes with seeing those things. Maybe feeling “peace and bliss” right now is NOT an answer, maybe feeling the pain of our lack of control and the pain of oppressive systems operating in our world today, maybe feeling “unwell” with all this IS an appropriate empathetic human response. Maybe it’s what we need to feel right now because it reveals our humanity. I have been actively pushing back against this “we have control, it’s all about our own internal perception” trope all week, and I am tired. But, I’ll keep pushing.
And now you have become...the Allan Ginsberg of the beauty industry.
Brilliant. So clever. In the same vein, last month Fidelity sent me an email, this is for real, wait for it -- telling me to celebrate Black History Month by reviewing my retirement account.
Have you read Kate Baer's erasure poems? This reminds me of the method she used to write her book "I Hope This Finds You Well". Both excellent!
Thank you for this... From a very scared and worried Europe, all the false cheer and promise of endless improvements on the Self seem grotesque at this point - even Oprah's praising of ,,Courage as the greatest value" made me barf. So thank you. Xxx
…. I love u
Absolutely brilliant! I came across a phrase in the current feminist book I am reading (The Rise of Enlighted Sexism) that I thought you'd appreciate: beauty-industrial complex. It definitely feels like the beauty industry is comparable to the military-industrial complex. It is after all, an ever hungry monster that never stops growing.
Bravo. The perfect combo of LOLs and cringe, loved it! 👏
You nailed it. Thank you for perfectly highlighting this insanity.
So creative, so genius.
Jesus Christ