Investigative Selfism

I'm continuing the theme of my fifth season: an invitation to smash - completely, unapologetically - some concepts, habits, and patterns in your life.

My second episode is about having the courage to admit that some people you might have praised are not worthy of your praise and loyalty anymore. And yes, I give some embarrassing personal examples here.

The fourth season of my podcast was about getting real about things. The fifth one is about smashing them.

I start it with an embarrassing admission of my own ignorance and arrogance. The denial of my privilege. The desire to appear a certain way and simply denying reality.

I invite you, once again, on this uncomfortable journey. We're in multiple crises at the same time; the sooner we decolonise our minds, the better for everyone (including ourselves).

In my closing episode of the season, I invite you to be honest with yourselves about what's occupying your head, heart, and soul.

I don't mean the things we choose to carry unnecessarily.

I mean the big, meaningful, and oftentimes heavy things.

I also invite you not to push anything down but to create space for those states.

It was a combination of an unexpected tragic event that I witnessed recently and the continuous witnessing of Israel’s mass murder in Gaza that sparked this episode.

In it, I share two reminders with you that can help when you’re navigating difficult times.
One, it’s a reminder to give yourself some grace. Can you acknowledge that it IS a tough situation you never had to navigate before?
Two, it’s a reminder that you still have your values and principles and ways how you want to show up in this world. You already have tools and you can always look for more.
It’s what I need to remind myself every day. And I know that it’s so many of us witnessing genocide being unleashed onto Gaza have to do, too — to simply continue our lives but also to continue speaking out, according to our integrity.

It's difficult to see a population being destroyed.
It's difficult to see acquaintances - and our leaders - express Fascist views.
It's difficult to expect friends to speak out but not always get it.
In short, there's a lot to process: both what's happening in Gaza and the world.
For me, it took a long time to consciously allow myself to feel my heartbreak completely. And, honestly, I'm not sure I'm really there.
But I'm here, sharing with you what I have 💔✊🏽
Thanks for being in this community ❤️
Justina
#mentalhealth #trauma #collectivetrauma #grief #activism #Palestine #genocide #Gaza #FlourMassacre #gazagenocide #ceasefirenow 

Although this post might seem like a strong “You know, you should really…” it actually isn’t.
It’s not a ‘should’ but an invitation to slow down for an hour or so and reflect on how you’d like your 2024 to be. Or, rather, how you would like to show up this year.

Just the past five years, I’ve moved countries probably more than five times, changed my career completely and switched jobs four times, navigated a relationship and a breakup, and managed to do whatever else I was doing.
As a political commentator, I’ve followed, written about, and got my heart broken over a number of issues.
So I am not here to say “just plan your year and follow through”.
I’m here to say that no matter how any year goes, with its endless unknowns, we still get to choose our intentions. And even if we don’t follow through on something, I’m still choosing to consciously decide what those (albeit potentially failed) projects will be.
Most importantly, I’m choosing how I MYSELF want to show up, what qualities to bring, what to learn, and what – the hardest part for me – not to repeat.
The rest? The rest is in my episode.

I hope you take the time to listen to it and, more importantly, I hope you take that time for yourself.

Happy 2024,

Justina

I'm closing this year inviting you to explore the importance of feeling our emotions (including healthy anger) and not disregard what an alarming amount of research points to.
The connection between suppressing healthy anger, the stress it creates on our immuno, neuro, and endocrine systems, and chronic illnesses that stem from that IS alarming.
I'm inviting you to embark on the path that can save us all a lifetime of illnesses 🙏🏾

This is not an episode that contains "answers" -- but what I do want to do is to hold space for everyone struggling as a genocide in Gaza is unfolding.

Through the guilt, shame, privileges, painful silence of friends, and other things to navigate, I invite you to both normalise not being OK and to move through it as you take meaningful action.

As I say at the very beginning of my episode, we are allowed to talk about how we feel about something without that becoming the story. And, I would add, to CHANGE the story, we have to try our best to take care of ourselves and our community.

My fourth season is all about getting real, so this makes a lot of sense to ask: what are you really about?

These past weeks have been extremely centering for many.

I also noticed how many people who could be considered (and in some ways, they really can be) intellectuals seem to, in the end, stand for nothing.

Your answer doesn’t have to be political like mine. But I do invite you to ask yourself:

What do you stand for?

Perhaps naively, I say sooo much clarity – and bravery to do what’s meaningful to you – stems from reflecting on exactly that.

As a political commentator who focuses on Palestine and a human, I have to say that the last month has been very tough.

But it has also shown me something that I know many of us have to navigate: being very much imperfect people doing work that matters to us.

I think to continue, self-compassion is a must, together with a very simple understanding that imperfections are (1) very subjective and (2) even if they're actually what we ourselves notice as something not ideal, still allowed.

As I say in my video, I’m not glorifying practices that aren’t good for our health, saying “anything goes.” But a lot goes indeed into being complex and multi-dimensional people.