What Am I Rooting Myself Into?
Liberation Lessons: Actionable Advice for Radical Change A Weekly Paid Subscriber Bonus
Open up with Curiosity:
What do I believe about growth? What myths about thriving need unlearning?
🌬️ Before We Begin: Let’s Settle Into the Soil
Place your feet flat.
Let your shoulders drop.
Take a breath as if the earth is listening.
Inhale — the stories you were told.
Exhale — the ones you’re ready to rewrite.
Breathe in memory... the people who poured into you, the sacred moments that steadied you.
Breathe out the myth that you have to do this alone.
Breathe in your right to rest, to reimagine, to reroot.
Breathe out the lie that thriving only comes through suffering.
Place your hand on your belly or heart and whisper to yourself:
“I get to choose where I root. I get to name what no longer nourishes me.”
Root Reflection: What Stories Have Shaped Your Growth?
We live in a world that’s sold us harmful definitions of growth:
That growth is linear.
That growth means productivity.
That growth should always feel good.
That we only deserve to bloom once we’ve suffered enough.
That rest is earned, not essential.
But growth (real, sacred, liberatory growth) is messier than that.
It’s spiral-shaped.
It’s seasonal.
It’s communal.
It’s as much about composting as it is about blooming.
So ask yourself:
What beliefs about thriving were handed to me by systems that don’t actually want me free?
Have I measured success by exhaustion?
Have I mistaken suffering for significance?
Have I rooted myself in grind instead of grace?
What Are You Rooting Into?
This week, we move into the first step of the R.O.O.T.S. Method™:
Reflect.
Because how we define growth determines how we move, what we accept, and what we tolerate. And most of us (especially those raised under supremacy culture, colonization, and grind logic) were taught to measure growth through:
Output
Achievement
Suffering
Comparison
Approval
But sacred one… that’s not thriving. That’s extraction.
True growth doesn’t just happen in motion... it happens in pause, in silence, in choosing something different than what was handed down.
Let’s Get Honest: What Are You Rooted In?
Roots are unseen—but they shape everything.
So let’s ask:
Am I rooted in fear or trust?
In performance or purpose?
In scarcity or sacred reciprocity?
In isolation or interdependence?
Where are my roots growing—and do they still serve me?
Because here’s the truth:
You can’t bloom where you’re not nourished.
You can’t thrive where you’re constantly being extracted.
You don’t owe anyone your depletion in the name of duty.
If you're still reading...
That means something sacred is stirring beneath the surface.
And I want to honor that.
Because reflection isn’t just about insight—it’s about integration.
It’s not just about knowing better—it’s about choosing differently.
And that work... it deserves care, community, and ritual.
This is where our paid Liberation Lessons begin:
Grounded in the LIBERATE Framework™, layered with somatic practice, self/home/work integration, and weekly praxis.
If you’ve felt nourished by this reflection—
If you're ready to root deeper into how liberation lives in your body, breath, and daily life—
Then come be held in this circle. Upgrade to a paid subscription.
$8/month | $80/year | $120 equity partner
Scholarships are always available—just ask: Scholarships@DesireeBStephens.com
Let’s bloom below the surface... together.