Box 1 - Noticing the Present

Introduction (2.5 minutes)

Welcome to the noticing exercise, I hope that you find this activity to be a rich and meaningful experience. This activity is divided into 3 parts and each box will include the next part that supports the theme of the box. In this first part of the activity you will be exploring the story of the present, and you will reflect on where and who you are at this moment.

If you have never done a guided noticing activity like this before, welcome to this new experience and your willingness to embrace something unfamiliar is appreciated. For those that are familiar with this type of approach, please take this as an opportunity to discover something new for yourself. We are not asking that you have the answers for every question and prompt we ask, rather we are intending you begin to notice what is familiar and unfamiliar to you, how your body feels throughout the activity, and what you were noticing about the space around you.

As you start this activity you may be wondering “what am I supposed to be noticing?” Well, being actively anti-racist requires both external and internal awareness and reflection. Systemic racism goes deeper than the overt incidents that we see and hear about. There’s a legacy to racism that continues to perpetuate patterns and outcomes in many facets of society. It is encoded in the way our infrastructure, communities, and institutions have been built.

We are inviting you to notice how racism may be embedded in these spaces around you that often not noticed. Being able to recognize these patterns around you, and even within yourself, is an important capacity of anti-racism. This noticing activity is intended to provide an opportunity to reflect and recognize how these patterns and outcomes are likely to be evident around you.

Another aspect of the activity is to encourage you to engage with the land and the natural world as a source of connection and energy that can be overlooked and dismissed as part of an anti-racism practice. Transforming our relationship with the natural world will offer you opportunities and insights that can be applied to transforming the systems of oppression that surround us.

Before you begin you may want to grab something to capture any reflections that come up, a smart phone will work.

Now that you have a sense of the purpose of the noticing activity, let’s begin!

Part One - Exploring your present (9 minutes)

Start by taking a few deep breaths, try to clear your mind, and find a feeling of relaxation. Once you’ve done this, begin your noticing experience.

As you are moving along, start to consider the following questions.

What season is it? What is the temperature? How is your body reacting to it?

What senses are being activated for you? What are they perceiving?

Each place has many stories, as you start to notice the space around you, what is the current story of the present?

Who is living on the land right now and how are they living?

What are the buildings and dwellings like where you are and who were they for?

Is there a focus on residential or business?

Is there a focus on ownership or renting? How do you know?

Is there any selling or buying of goods and services around you? Who are these things for?

Are there spaces for gathering and spending time with others?

Who have the spaces been designed for?

Who are you seeing? Who are you not seeing?

Is there a dominant culture or way of life?

Are there certain values that are being implicitly communicated? What are they and what do you know about why it is this way?

Is there anything that stands out to you?

Let’s pause and check in.

Have you felt relaxed during this experience? And what has contributed to this relaxation? Have there been sensations, emotions, impulses or thoughts that you’ve had?

Did you feel tension during this experience so far? What have been the sensations, emotions, impulses, and thoughts that connected to this tension?

Let’s continue.

How does the natural environment seem to be doing?

Whose land is this? Who seems to own it?

In thinking about the land, how is it being cared for? Is it being cared for?

How is it being used and who has decided these uses and what is permitted and what is not permitted?

Are there any animals? What are they? Are there wild animals that you notice?

Do you know the name of the species or have a sense of their habitat or any knowledge of their daily activity?

Are there plants around you? How did they get here? Who is taking care of them?

Do they seem to be natural to the space you were in or were they brought here?

As you have been noticing things around you, have you noticed any internal biases?

As we come to the end of part one - exploring your present, take a moment to take some deep breaths. What is sticking with you? What are you more curious about and want to explore further? How does your body feel?

Take a moment to write down any observations and insights. You can use these as a self curated guide for things you want to do and learn next. Feel free to return to this activity more and in other locations. Use it to explore the world around you, where you can learn more, how your body and emotions react to discovering new truths, and even where are you expanded your consciousness and level of awareness of the spaces around you.

Thank you!