Black People Breathe by Zee Clarke

Author:Zee Clarke [Clarke, Zee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Published: 2023-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

Your mind might start to be swept away by circular thought patterns of worry, but the counting forces you to focus. Say to yourself, “Inhale for four…three…two…one. Hold for seven…six…five…four…three…two…one. Exhale for eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one.” If you lose count, calmly begin again. Rather than scolding yourself, be gentle and understanding because you know that you have a lot on your mind. It’s okay if you get distracted. Just begin again.

This phrase begin again has stuck with me ever since my first ten-day silent-meditation retreat. It was an intense eleven hours of meditating every day for ten days without talking, and I remember the beginning of each session, when I heard the voice of the teacher say, “Begin again.” It didn’t matter that yesterday was a really hard day and my back hurt from sitting cross-legged on the floor for that long. It didn’t matter that in the morning session my mind was wandering all over the place and I felt like I was doing it all wrong. Every time I sat down, I had the opportunity to begin again.

When you first start trying these breathing techniques, you might find it hard to focus, especially when you are using them in the most dire circumstances. Have patience with yourself, and remember to “begin again.” Over time your ability to focus on the breath will strengthen like a muscle. The more you do it, the easier it will be, and the benefits will be amazing. In the morning, you will wake up feeling rested and ready for the day!

You can’t control when anxiety will creep up on you or when that part of your brain just won’t let you go to sleep. However, when it happens, you have the power to release yourself from its grip.

The Extra Workload

Sometimes being the only Black person at work means taking on responsibilities outside of your job description. You might be assigned administrative tasks like ordering lunch or event planning, when you were actually hired to be a data analyst, lawyer, or investor. This might make you feel like your company doesn’t value your intelligence and all the amazing skills that you bring to the organization. You might also be pulled into diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, resulting in a significant amount of extra work. If you are passionate about these initiatives, you might enjoy it. However, it can feel unjust, because your work performance will be compared with that of your white colleagues who aren’t required to spend time on these additional projects. In addition to the time required, the extra work often puts us in triggering situations that can be emotionally taxing as well. We might feel uncomfortable doing what’s asked of us. Although the organization might have gotten what it wanted, we are left to heal from anger, resentment, sadness, and the huge range of emotions that come with its seemingly innocuous requests.

Though my actual roles have ranged from marketing to business development to product management, I have spent hours helping talent-acquisition teams develop strategies to attract and hire diverse employees.

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