Who's Raising You? A July Practice of Sacred Self-Acknowledgment

Who's Raising You? A July Practice of Sacred Self-Acknowledgment

Your dreams aren't too big—the containers you've been offered are too small.

Hello Beautiful warriors,

June reminded me that trusting your dreams starts with believing in your vision—completely, unapologetically. This belief in what you see, this sacred self-acknowledgment, breathes life into possibilities that don't exist yet. It's the cornerstone of unwavering faith.

Self-acknowledgment isn't just a step; it's the cornerstone of unwavering belief. Research by pioneering Black psychologist Dr. Claude Steele shows that 'Affirmation gives you a chance to gain a little perspective... It gives you a little comfort, and it lowers the interfering churn that you're experiencing.' 

When you acknowledge who you are and what you've accomplished, your belief becomes unshakeable, putting you in the driver's seat of your life's journey.

Who's Raising You In This Season?

This July, we're exploring sacred self-acknowledgment as the pathway to dreaming bigger and tapping into your creative capital.

Who's Raising You is an invitation to notice whose voice and energy you've been prioritizing in your life. Many of us grant familiar people—family, old friends, and long-term acquaintances—speaking and authority roles in our lives simply because they've been there, not because they genuinely have our best interests at heart. It's time to cut those cords. Self-sovereignty, the power to make decisions about our own lives, asks us to stop allowing people who don't honour our growth to hold decision-making power over our dreams. Self-sovereignty is about taking control of your life and making decisions that align with your values and goals, regardless of what others may think or say.

Choose instead the voices that celebrate your expansion over those who mistake longevity for loyalty. Listen to the wisdom within that knows your worth and honours your dreams and your growth, not the fear-based opinions of those who have never done the work to understand who you're becoming (or who they're becoming).

This isn't about affirmations; it's about narrative reclamation—the conscious practice of reshaping your self-image and stepping into your role as your most powerful coach, mentor, and guide. It's the difference between acknowledging your inherent worth and potential versus simply repeating positive phrases.

The Foundation of Sacred Self-Acknowledgment

"The chances for feeling inadequate abound in any given day, making it hard for people to maintain their self-integrity on an even keel in the face of daily setbacks," notes pioneering Black psychologist Dr. Claude Steele. His self-affirmation theory proposes three types of strategies that people employ to cope with threats to their sense of self: Accommodation (openly accepting challenging information and utilizing it for growth), Amelioration (adapting or reframing threats through various protective strategies), and Affirmation (strengthening one's sense of self-worth through values-based practices).

The combination of these three strategies forms the foundation of our ACE practice: Acknowledge, honestly facing our experiences (accommodation); Celebrate, wisely reframing challenges as growth opportunities (Amelioration); and Express, consistently honouring our worth and values (affirmation). This integrated approach helps us remember our humanity while building resilience in the face of systems that seek to diminish our sense of worth, making us feel supported and capable of overcoming challenges. You are not alone in this journey.

Your Dreams Aren't Too Big—The Containers Are Too Small

Shame is a loud silencer—it amplifies external noise while muting your inner wisdom. Is the world's chatter drowning out what you know to be true about yourself? Are impostor syndrome moments making you question your cultural brilliance and worthiness? Shame works overtime to silence the voice that knows you're meant for extraordinary things.

Discovering what's blocking your full potential—your heart, heritage, and wisdom—is the first step to reclaiming your dream big narrative and stepping into the expansiveness of your purpose.

JULY: Your Monthly ACE Practice

We're known for using acronyms for self-empowerment, and July's practice spells out precisely what you need. Each element connects to a practice you may already have in place. The intention is to be present in this season with your self-sovereignty practice.

J - Just Being as Yourself-Acknowledgment Practice

There is movement in silence and the pause. Simply being in your body, in your truth, in your chosen cultural space is a form of rebellion against a world that needs you to be small to function. Your wholeness at rest disrupts society's economy of extraction.

Being may feel too simple, but it's the highest form of self-trust practice we have. This is about acknowledging that your existence itself has value beyond productivity or achievement. What if we practiced just being? No justification. No explanation. No apology for being or taking up space.

Your ACE practice: Acknowledge your right to exist entirely in your body's wisdom. Celebrate the moments you choose yourself without defending them. Express your multifaceted self by listening to your inner signals and rhythms.

U - UNLEASH Your Bold "Too Much" Creative Self/Expression

"We must learn to be human together or we will not survive as a species." - Sylvia Wynter.

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Your boldness isn't a character flaw—it's a creative contribution to the collective imagination. When someone tells you that you're "too much," they're revealing their relationship with self. It's a projection and indication of their level of confidence in their self-creative expression. Sylvia Wynter reminds us that learning to be fully human together requires us to embrace our expansiveness, not diminish it. This is pure Affirmation of your values and worth.

Your ACE reminder: Acknowledge your boldness (however you define it) as a creative gift. Celebrate your "too much" energy as a necessary contribution. Express your bigness, because the world needs your imagination to create new possibilities.

L - LOVE as Creative Practice

"Love is an action, never simply a feeling — and that action is always the action of love; it requires care, commitment, knowledge, and responsibility." - bell hooks.

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Self-acknowledgment as love in action affirms our humanity by treating ourselves with the same care and recognition we would offer someone we deeply love.

Your weekly practice: Write three love letters to your future self:

• One way you demonstrated care for yourself this week
• One way you showed commitment to your growth and responsibility for your dreams
• One way you celebrate just for being

Y - Your ACE Support Ecosystem

"If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together." - Aboriginal activists, Queensland, 1970s

We are not meant to grow alone. Take time to map your ACE support ecosystem. Get clear about who's raising you so you can gain mind-body-soul clarity on the people who love and celebrate you for who you are, as well as the places and spaces that light you up.

Define your ACE Support Ecosystem and map out:

• The people who see and champion your creative potential
• The spaces and places that restore your creative spirit
• The practices that ground your Self-Acknowledgement work
• The poems, colours, songs and clothing that remind you of your power and who you are

 The Creative Capital Connection

Your ACE practice isn't just personal development—it's cultural reclamation and a way of remembering our collective humanity. When you acknowledge, celebrate, and express yourself fully (as a human, woman, coach, or cultural leader), you're tapping into your creative capital and modelling new possibilities for everyone in your sphere of influence, especially your highest self.

 Self-acknowledgment becomes a leadership practice, a vital part of emotional intelligence competency, helping you lead from a multifaceted perspective while honouring the cultural wisdom you bring to every room. You are already contributing to the social and organizational imagination economy, simply by how you show up and how you choose to dream big in your professional spaces.

 It's time to step into the expansiveness of your purpose and explore the parts of yourself you've been afraid to embrace fully, free from the limitations of people who cannot see your magnificence.

 Make every day a ceremony of being and a ceremony of becoming. When you create everyday art through your practice of sacred self-acknowledgment, you're not just building a foundation for your most ambitious dreams—you're remembering the pathway back to your most connected, integrated self.

 This is how we return to wholeness while reaching toward possibility.

Believing deeply in you and the dreams that call you forward,