Who's Raising You? Self-Sovereignty and The Practice of Sacred Self-Acknowledgment

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

 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." - Dr Claude Steele

 The "churn" refers to the anxious, interfering mental activity—the racing thoughts, self-doubt, and psychological turbulence that occur when we're under threat or stress, whether perceived, real, or systemic. It's that internal noise that makes it hard to think clearly, perform well, or dream bigger.

 When we practice self-acknowledgment, it calms this "churn"—it quiets the interfering mental static so we can access our multicultural knowledge system, which validates our complete capabilities and lived wisdom.  The "churn" is essentially the psychological interference that gets in the way of our true potential.

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

Who's Raising You In This Season?

This July, we explore sacred self-recognition as a means to think bigger and unlock your creative potential, fueling your imagination economy.

 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 or who we are 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, honouring your inner sparks, regardless of what others may think or say.

The practice of self-sovereignty is an invitation to choose voices that celebrate your growth over those who confuse longevity with loyalty. Listen to the wisdom inside that recognizes your worth and honours your dreams and development, not the fear-driven 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, cheerleader, 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), 
• Affirmation (strengthening one's sense of self-worth through values-based practices with specific and accurate examples). 

 The combination of these three strategies forms the foundation of our Self-Acknowledgement ACE practice:

• Acknowledge your multicultural life experiences and the truth of your lived reality, despite societal forces that may seek to diminish or distort your perspective (accommodation);
• Celebrate your whole self—as Derek Walcott reminds us, feast on your life, honour your being beyond your doing, and celebrate yourself as you are (amelioration);
• Express your truth, creativity, and dreams while honouring your worth and values (affirmation).

 This integrated approach helps us remember our humanity while building adaptive capacity in the face of social systems that seek to diminish our sense of worth, making us feel supported and capable of overcoming challenges. You are not alone on this journey.

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. Just 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 Expression

"When I write, I want to sound in theory the way Aretha Franklin sounds in song" -Sylvia Wynter

As Sylvia Wynter's work on 'being human as praxis' shows us, learning to be fully human together requires us to embrace our expansiveness, not diminish it. Sylvia Wynter inspires me and reminds me to dream bigger with my cultural work, research and practice. I want my body of work to be a multicultural closet of some of the most beautiful, unique, and bold chapters, threads of cultural narratives in my closet of belonging. 

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.

Self-acknowledgment is love in action—it affirms our humanity by treating ourselves with the same care and recognition we would offer someone we deeply love. This practice builds our adaptive capacity to choose love over criticism, especially when external systems try to convince us we're not worthy of such tenderness.

  Your ACE practice: Write three love letters to your future or now self:

• One way you demonstrated care for yourself this week
• One way you showed commitment to your growth and took responsibility for your dreams
• One way you celebrated yourself 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 with 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

Adaptive Capacity and The Creative Capital Connection

Your ACE practice isn't just personal development—it's narrative reclamation and a way of remembering our collective humanity. Each time you acknowledge, celebrate, and express yourself fully, you're building adaptive capacity—the ability to process new information about yourself and consciously choose empowering ways of being. This adaptive capacity becomes your creative capital, expanding your ability to dream bigger, think differently, and model new possibilities for everyone in your sphere of influence.

Self-acknowledgment becomes a leadership practice and a crucial part of your emotional intelligence competency. When you strengthen your adaptive capacity through ACE practice, you're not just honouring the cultural wisdom you bring to every room—you're actively investing in your creative capital and contributing to the social and organizational imagination economy through how you show up.

Now is the moment to step into the expansiveness of your purpose. Release yourself from the limitations of those who cannot see your multicultural magnificence and explore the parts of yourself that you've been afraid to fully embrace.

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 your dreams, 

Karlyn

 P.S. - Your imagination is your economy. Your ACE practice is how you invest in it. I hope you meet your most delightful self in July.

 *Source: "Self-affirmation theory" from EBSCO Research Starters in Psychology /URL: https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/psychology/self-affirmation-theory