Written by Haileigh Nelson, Founding Creative
Haileigh Nelson is a thought leader in the arena of social change with experience partnering with Community-Based Organizations, social care networks, academic institutions, & government agencies. They are the Founding Creative of (in)Visible Legacy, a social impact and consulting firm dedicated to achieving systems-level change in creative ways.
From the playful imaginings of childhood to collaborative community endeavors, creativity fuels our ability to envision and build toward collective liberation. But the power of creation extends inward as well. Tapping into our embodied creativity offers a vital pathway for deep personal and collective healing. Discover how these individual and shared acts of creativity send out a ripple effect of innovative change, shaping a more just and equitable society. Read on to explore this transformative potential inherent in us all.
Creativity & community: Co-creating pathways to collective liberation
Remember when you were a child playing outside with neighborhood friends or family members your age? Or perhaps your friends in grade school? Imaginative games like playing house, dress-up, and even hide-and-seek allowed our young minds to imagine something beyond where we were. We got to create characters, themes, experiences, and even whole worlds that were outside of our current reality.
While this might seem like a task reserved for children, or a waste of time as we get older, imaginative play is actually key to envisioning a more equitable future. After all, how can we work toward a future that does not yet exist without engaging our imaginations?
At (i)VL, we believe that creativity is not only required for our current existence, our bodies need to create constantly to keep us alive, but also for our collective survival into the future. Within a community, the act of creating together can become a powerful force for collective liberation.
Shared creative practices provide platforms for individuals to connect, express their experiences and emotions, and build solidarity. When community members, whether they be neighbors, colleagues, friends, or strangers, engage in activities such as collective brainstorming, collaborative art projects, or shared storytelling, they can challenge dominant narratives and envision alternative realities. These creative endeavors have the power to heal us, foster a sense of belonging, and build the collective power necessary to dismantle oppressive systems and create a more just society.
Here are a few ideas for how to engage yourself (or your community) creatively:
Try something unexpected to solve a problem, maybe go outside to have a conversation or meeting.
Take five minutes to sit outside and daydream.
Create a collage.
What creative ideas come to mind for you when you think about creativity as a pathway to liberation? How does thinking about creativity in this way broaden your understanding of what it means to be creative? What gets in the way of your innate ability to create?
Embodied creativity: Creativity as a pathway to deep healing
Embodiment is a term that describes how what we currently practice, the thoughts, behaviors, patterns, habits, etc., shapes how we move through the world. The process of being embodied is how we increase awareness of our current practices and create spaciousness for new ways of being to emerge. Each of us is born into a social context that impacts our embodiment, and everything from our families to the systems that we interact with plays a role.
The impact that trauma has on our bodies, left unhealed, can affect the ways we view ourselves, one another, and the world. In other words, trauma shapes what we currently embody. Furthermore, trauma does not solely exist in the body that experiences it. It shapes relationships, and even policies and practices that govern our work.
So, what can we do about this? We can reconnect to our innately creative selves as a tool to heal our wounds and deepen our embodied awareness. In the same ways that trauma shapes us, engaging creativity as a pathway for deep healing can also shape us.
Take a moment to reflect and practice:
Engage in mindful breathing to activate the vagus nerve
Breathe in for a count of 4
Breathe out for a count of 6 (or more)
What are the current thoughts, behaviors, and patterns that you embody?
What experiences might have shaped these?
Do they align with who you want or believe yourself to be?
Do they move us closer to a more liberated world?
Take a short sensory walk outside
What colors, images, smells, and sounds can you experience?
What thoughts spark your imagination?
The ripple effect: How creative innovation drives social change
Imagine yourself as a drop of water in a bucket. As you drop in, a ripple is created that reverberates throughout the whole bucket of water. This is a metaphor for how society is shaped by both our individual and collective bodies. If we drop into the bucket still wounded from trauma, the impacts of that will continue to ripple outward, clashing with other ripples we encounter. But if we commit to embodied creativity as a pathway toward healing and engage with the community from this place, our ripples can intersect to create something greater.
At (i)VL, we believe this is how lasting social change happens. Reconnecting with our creative selves can heal us, liberate us, and guide us toward the collective transformation we seek.
We all have the tools we need within us to move toward change. Are you ready to explore the power of creativity in your own journey toward change? Connect with us here and book your free Visioning Call today to get started. To learn more about (in)Visible Legacy, visit our website and Instagram pages.
Read more from Haileigh Nelson
Haileigh Nelson, Founding Creative
Haileigh Nelson is the Founding Creative of (in)Visible Legacy, a social impact and equity consulting business dedicated to achieving systemic change and liberation for Black, Brown, and QTLGTSI+ people. Frustrated with conventional methods, Haileigh sought inspiration from their love of fashion design, recognizing the power of creativity and embodiment to drive social change. Haileigh started (i)VL to help individuals and teams discover their innate power to create a liberatory world through services like personalized coaching, group visioning sessions, culture change management, and facilitation services. (i)VL believes that when traditional avenues for change fall short, innovation and creativity become our most powerful tools.
