I entered a walking labyrinth meditation in April 2023 asking for a sign. I was at an ending that I was having a hard time honoring, celebrating, and growing from. I took a deep breath and stepped into the mystery of the labyrinth’s stones and curves. Into the seemingly simple design — a nook in the middle of tall, tall trees that held the stories of the generations that came before me. I stepped into a seemingly simple design. And yet, complexities unfolded. 

Entire generations and ecosystems live and flourish in Blackness: look beneath the soil and you find the deep roots of trees, hundreds of years old. You find the creation of new life in the burrows of animals. Look beneath the soil and you remember that our ancestors weaved seeds into their hair as they were stolen from their lands. The weaving of the seeds in their hair was an act of hope - of discerning the possibility that one day the seeds from their homeland would continue to take root and bloom for their children’s children. Our Blackness roots, grows, and blooms innovations, progress, and joy. So what will it take to step into the fullness of our possibility of our Blackness?

“Raccoons wear masks. And I’m wondering: what mask might have served you or protected you that you need to put down now in order to move forward in your legacy building?” - My coach asked me last spring. Whew, well that’s a word. Over the coming hours, days, and months, I’d find myself in deep inquiry with the different masks I’ve worn - in service of protecting myself, in search of belonging, in pursuit of comforting others - and how they were constraining me from tapping into the abundance of possibility and power that exists within me.

My vision in 2020 to build a legacy of sustaining Black women leaders differently was confronted with my superpower telling myself to write a plan rooted in urgency, constant activity, and scarcity. I would have to wipe clean how I cultivated and nourished my superpower if i was going to build THP and my legacy. I would have to surrender to  new ways of nourishing my vision in order to see possibility — in order to see the future.  Join me in watching the future through the stoic Great Blue Heron, the time traveling journeys of the Red Tailed Hawk, and the silence of the Great Horned Owl. 

Over the last two months, I’ve found myself in deep inquiry with trees, wondering what I can learn from their roots below the surface to help me in crafting a set of intentions for embodying grounding this year and throughout my own legacy building.

I used to be anxious about the return from winter breaks, but right now I’m blissfully ignorant about the to do lists and pressure to plan resolutions. Right now I choose to stay surrounded by this feeling of presence. Of grounding in a trail of snow.

I started 2020 deteriorated; for years I did not treat my body as deserving of respite. And then, the week before the NYC shutdown happened.