I can't tell you how much I've heard the phrase "bring your whole self." It's definitely on my list of weird anti-racist organizer lingo that I vow never to use outside of an anti-racist study group. But the concept behind it is so healing and relieving and exciting, I wanted to take special bloggy time to indulge- that way if I ever slip and use this phrase out of context (and please spank me if I do!), you'll know what I mean.
What it means to me, is that often we are asked to check our emotions, quirks, and personalities at the door of the office/organization/meeting - and just be political, just be productive. In the end, be business like as professional activists/organizers/get-shit-done'ers. BBBOOORRRRIIINGG! And not only is that boring, it leaves us making decisions that don't actually address people's needs - which include emotional, social, spiritual, and mental needs. I would love to have a really clever example right now, but today I'm really struggling to be articulate.
Cause we are trying to build a new world that works ALL THE TIME, not just when people are thinking about being political. Included in "all of the time" is times when people are hungry, sleepy, horny, pissed off, depressed, lonely, bored, worrying about paying their rent, distracted by a crush, etc. If our movement doesn't address what people are ACTUALLY thinking about, then they won't be 100% invested.
So the idea of "bringing your whole self" is to bring all the different aspects of your personality and mood to the organizing table. To be loud and goofy, to crack jokes, to cry, to show off your fashion, to do that thing that you're especially good at, to talk about thinking about hookup possibilities at the upcoming conference, to figure out how we can get paid while doing our organizing work, to say that for whatever reason the plan seems politically admirable but totally boring, too hard, whatever. TO BE REAL with each other 'cause then you find things that REALLY work. This is how we find each others' strengths and meet each other's real needs.
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Have you all discussed ideas on how to encourage people to express their "whole selves"? I love this idea (but agree with you on the lingo), and oftentimes it's a difficult one for me, because no matter what I'm feeling and how intensely, I want to be focused on what we're talking about and get it done efficiently. But even more so, I want everyone else to be focused and not be distracting so as not to waste anyone's time.
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