SEEN

Sensitivity is Survivable

The Even Ibis | Spring 2026

A meditative refrain for self-acceptance and self-liberation in moments of being regarded. SEEN is a recognition and affirmation that we ‘get you’ to remind you your sensitivity is survivable. FREE downloadable e-zine from The People’s Pedagogue!

For many of us, balancing living in community and living authentically means making changes.  Those changes may be small adjustments or radical shifts that allow us to truly express ourselves and ultimately live in our abundance. 

We become aware of the vastness of our being as we dissemble, align and reconstruct ourselves. 

As we depart from what is known to engage in new understandings of ourselves, we may not fully appreciate the confrontation required in returning from our adventures fully visible. 

We have pushed beyond the known to create within ourselves something entirely new, as such we must reimagine what it means, or even what it requires, to be seen. 

Our continuously renewed lived experiences fortify us with refined values.  Those values need not be rescinded when we are in community.  Inner change calls on us to maintain our center while being in concert with others.  This requires us to protect the catalysts we have undergone and continue to move through.

We may struggle with external demands to build bridges for others either to investigate us or in pointing to areas of ourselves for exposure and articulation.  Being ‘seen’ is an ongoing and evolving agreement between ourselves and the external world; yet, we may not always have the fortitude to navigate this experience without practicing self-liberation. 

Being ‘seen’ is not a fixed experience. We are not simply seeking to be viewed.  We must be SEEN.  

To be ‘seen’ in the sense used in Pan-African ideology, we are regarded, acknowledged, understood, affirmed, and received as a whole message in and of ourselves.  We are not separate from the world around us, we are of it, and our existence references and reflects.

And there is pressure in moments of being visible. 

Here, is also a tenderness in the tangle of distance from who we are represented to be and the self we know we are becoming.  Contending with this recognition is an entirely vulnerable experience. And yet, holding on to our softness is a liberation practice.  The task is to acknowledge and affirm sensitivity is survivable.

“Your value is decided on all the things you are willing to accept about yourself. And what you won’t.” -Nona, Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell

Finding the courage to be regarded in this way is something many of us with systemically othered and intersectional identities experience routinely.  Vulnerability is not the only challenge of being regarded - we must also discern if we are safe.  

Consider how being amplified in spaces that have no capacity for equity is in and of itself a risk.  In these toxic spaces an illusion that being seen is accompanied with being heard and navigating visibility individually is recommended. However, being elevated comes with a layer of negative or at times dangerous projections.

As we move through these systems being othered, tokenized, misread, policed, targeted or silenced the impact on our wellbeing can leave us questioning or deceiving ourselves, unsupported and emotionally depleted. 

We have a choice about when and how we will become visible. And when we consent we can experience an empowerment that is entwined with a welcome yet an unremitting sensation of uneasiness.  This feeling of discomfort can be instructive for us.  We can take a moment to discern for ourselves if we can trust the environment or if we choose not to at this time.  

In moments of being regarded, we can hold ourselves while deciding how to proceed. Let’s reaffirm that our power is in evaluating how our authentic selves are regarded and when presenting our evolutions is growthful.  When we are ready and in our own way, we can release the discomfort, relinquish projections of shame and allow sincerity and fearless sensitivity to guide our public lives.  

Sensitivity is Survivable

A meditative refrain for Self-Acceptance and Self-Liberation in moments of being regarded.

REFRAIN

In uncertain moments when being regarded, here’s what I say to myself and here’s what I’m saying to you -

Take a deep breath in and out…

Be still within yourself.

Locate your internal buoyancy.

Fall in love with your breath.

Take two deep breaths in and out…

Amplify your heartcenter. 

Pull the chord of your spine up to the clouds. 

Take three deep breaths in and out…

You expand like rising embers floating in the air. 

You don’t have to explain.

You are the internal compass. 

“You’re under no obligation to be the same person you were 5 minutes ago.”  -Alan Watts