The Monthly Libation: May 2025

Colemon & Associates Monthly Libation Newsletter – May 2025

We hope this newsletter finds you able to enjoy some sunshine! We know the Pacific Northwest doesn’t always offer us the warmth we want, but we are grateful for the great weather we have been having! As a reminder, our intention for this newsletter is to offer reflections, inspiration, and resources to feed and nourish our work and practices from three primary perspectives:

1.     What We Are Feeling (Heart)

2.     What We Are Thinking (Head)

3.     What We Are Practicing (Loving and Intentional Action)

"Discover the Moment" Collage by Kellie Colemon

What We Are Feeling (Heart)

We are feeling alert, scrappy, and hungry for examples, experiences, and fodder for our hearts and imaginations. More specifically we are feeling drawn and inspired by the people and groups helping us hold the painful in-between’s of now: processing grief while celebrating life, staying informed but not being swept away by overwhelm, finding acts of solidarity while caring for self, and a BIG one:

acknowledging the ugly truths of history while daring to live into a healed world.

As facilitators, finding this kind of balance is complex and sometimes even unwelcome. However, we stay committed to it. Our work is about finding, moving and shifting energy. More specifically, stewarding energy so groups can FEEL their way to courage, change, impact, or whatever else they are looking to experience. Priya Parker’s recent post outlines the importance of considering energy in how we gather, as shares gatherings that shifted her energy.

Every one of us at C&A has watched Ryan Coogler’s new film, Sinners. We don’t pretend to be neutral about how much we love the film…even Kellie, who is terrified of horror films. This movie, y’all! We found the fusion of horror, history, and music so original and powerful in its ability to portray the tragedies and complexities of race but still center the tenacious beauty and audacity of racialized people in America. Amidst the vampires and special effects, the cinematography and the overall entertainment, lie unique and deep stories of the human experience. We saw:

·       Black, Brown, and Indigenous folks with conviction and the anointing of legacy that can’t be erased by the evils of racism.

·       The yearning of white folks to be invited to participate in the magic of Black culture, not out of jealously but because they too have lost ties to their own cultural roots.

·       The crisis of conscience many of us feel in trading our deepest knowing for the safety of acceptance, or the endorsement of those we believe can provide us favor and protection from harm.

·       The question of what redemption and healing looks like for one vs. many.

There’s just so much! One search on TikTok can send you on a wild and fascinating bunny trail of analysis, symbolism, and discourse about hidden messages and metaphors Coogler planted in the film.

It made us ask ourselves, how can we acknowledge the tragedies but not be driven by them? It’s a big and heavy question. But as a colleague so wisely stated, it a step feels too big, take a smaller step.

What is the small and feasible step you can take toward a fuller truth in the work and healing you are trying to do in the world? How could today reflect the impact you want to have – on your family, your workplace, your community?

What We Are Thinking/Reading (Head)

Building on the ways to thrive and heal in the in-between, we continue to read and draw on research and insights of Liberatory Leadership. The theory itself urges us to lead from a place of love and humanity wherein we choose imagination, expansion, possibility, truth telling, and rest to drive both change in and liberation from oppressive structures. This model is both complex in its how’s but elegantly simple in its why:

“We need to fight the monsters, without becoming monstrous.”

-Imani Mills Gordon and Ericka Stallings, Liberatory Leadership: A Transformative Model for a Changing  World

In the linked article, Gordon and Stalling kick off a poignant series describing the ways in which liberatory leadership can give us the ideas and courage to do and practice leadership in ways that disrupt oppressive defaults in leadership and institutions, and build new ways of learning and leading. These practices draw on the relentless imagination of our ancestors, disciplined and daily connections to our visions of a just and loving world, and infusing joy in EVERYTHING, even in how we approach and navigate conflict.

The framework is robust in how it considers the individual and systems work to be done in liberating ourselves from the slog and violence of the status quo. This post is a perfect example of re-framing our usual approach in the face of challenges. The Liberatory Leadership Partnership is an incredible resource to learn, practice, and share with others in your network.

This push toward the imagined future brought us back to the work of Dr. Monica Sharma. More specifically, her book, Radical Transformational Leadership reminds us that:

“Our extraordinary innate capacity for compassion and clarity seems paradoxical when juxtaposed with the enormous man-made iniquity and expectation of our earth and its people. It is precisely because of the state of the world that accessing our capacity as human beings is imperative.”

-Monica Sharma, Radical Transformational Leadership

Sharma’s text calls us to embody the strategic and visionary mindset of three different archetypes: the contemporary pioneer, the mindful pro-activist, and the unifying architect. Inherent to each is increasing our capacity to honor and tap into our unique talents rather than chase what we believe leaders, systems, or progress are supposed to look like. In other words, liberating ourselves from what is and stepping boldly into the change we want to see in ourselves first, and then ultimately, our world.

Building on this concept of being architects and collectively building a new world, we turned to the community of practice built by the Guild of Future Architects. Their work is a model for purpose driven collaboration that is rooted in collective wisdom, resource exchange, and inspired imagination. They experiment, building prototypes and labs for change agents and creative resourcing. It’s inspiring us to remember that vital lessons and ideas are found in the exploration and experimentation, rather than relying on and perpetuating systems that are simply not working.

What does liberation look and feel like to you – as a leader? What shifts in our community feel imperative to our collective liberation? What is one step or action you can take to contribute to that? If you are an architect, what are you building? What are you tearing down?

What We Are Practicing (Loving and Intentional Action)

We are practicing strategic pace setting and resisting the urge to hustle and/or move out of scarcity and urgency. This is particularly challenging right now as it flies in the face of the constant wave of information, research, headlines, and social media posts. What this looks like for us:

-        Maintaining a beginning and end to the workday- we accept that we can’t get it all done in one day. We focus on what we accomplished and allow ourselves to shift our presence and consciousness to home, hobbies, silence, and chill time. We TRUST that the work will get done, and that it can happen without harming our nervous systems or shaming ourselves into burnout.

-        We gas and love each other up - We see and honor the good in one another, from a cute outfit to a well written report, we pause to take the time to SEE each other. We remember that the feeling of being seen by your trusted circle is more powerful than any pedicure.

-        We practice loving corrections when we see each other struggling or activated -  Being a small team, we each wear several hats to sustain our work. Even though there are only three of us, we each own the culture of C&A. This commitment means that we define rest not as a request, but a requirement when we need it. We are not perfect, and the time/space to rest isn’t always as long as we’d like, but we take the moments we need to restore our energy and fuel our bodies.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/adamgrant/

-        We remind each other that rest and unapologetic joy IS our right, not the reward we get after we’ve done “enough.”

-        Doing this meditation from Davidji to find balance and check in with the places in us that need filling or emptying.

-        Taking a short break on LifeAt.io in the relaxing environment of our choice (we highly recommend Bali )

“When we get to thinking that we can draw tenderness, love and compassion for others without fulfilling that for ourselves, those are the instructions of the oppressor. Send your taproot down first”

– rev angel kyodo williams

What stops you from slowing down when you know you need a rest? What’s possible when you get the time and space you need to reset? Who can help you remember to pause and take care of yourself? What’s your favorite place to rest and recharge (extra points if it’s free)?

We hope you enjoyed this month’s offering. Please share with those in your network who might enjoy it. Please follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn to stay informed of our upcoming work and/or events, and to keep receiving the Monthly Libation. If you are looking for organizational development consultation, support, or coaching, you can find out more about our work on our website or email us at info@colemonassociates.org.

Stay safe. Take care of yourselves. Take care of each other.

C&A Team