Letter from the Editor
Are We Ready To Become Real?
"Once you are real, you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."
- The Velveteen Rabbit

Dear Seekers, Trance-Breakers, Wayfinders, Earth Stewards, and Nurturers,

Did you miss us? We’re slowing production of the newsletter while we prepare to bring to print a long list of books through our Kindred World Publishing House. Kindred World builds initiatives that are needed and an independent publishing house is a necessity for our nonprofit work as censorship of science continues to intensify. (See Darcia's Narvaez's current breastfeeding science post here for an example of what Psychology Today refuses to share with you on her Moral Landscapes blog there.)

We will keep posting our podcasts, features, and videos on social media, but you may want to consider joining our dedicated Mighty Networks platform, at www.KindredCommunity.org, where you can meet screened, like-minded seekers who are also interested in authoring our New Story of Childhood, Parenthood, and the Human Family. You can also support our nonprofit work and fund a newsletter editor’s salary here.

Tomorrow is Earth Day, and here in the Northern Hemisphere rebirth, resurrection, and transformation are natural, ubiquitous, early spring themes. One of my very favorite stories of transformation, featuring an ancient herald of rebirth, celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. The Velveteen Rabbit, written by English-American author, Margery Williams Bianco was inspired by Bianco's experience of witnessing her young children’s innocence at play during the brutal aftermath of the First World War. At the core of the book is the question, what does it mean to be real? 
 
Bianco's toy rabbit journeys from pondering "how to become real" while envying the fancier toys in the nursery, finding love and connection through his role as a comforter and playmate, facing his own rejection and annihilation when he is declared contaminated by scarlet fever germs by a doctor (after the boy recovers). When he is near his death, and a bonfire of other doomed nursery toys, the Velveteen Rabbit cries a single real tear that touches the earth and transforms into a fairy who shows him the way to his heart's dream of becoming real... and where to find the other “real” rabbits dancing in the forest.
 
One hundred years later, as some are anticipating the start of yet another world war, many of us are asking, is this who we really are? Is this what it means to be human? Are we really this violent, damaged, incapable of stewarding and embodying life?

The answer is, "No, this is not who we are." As the award-winning science of Darcia Narvaez’s work reveals in the six-minute short film, Breaking the Cycle, this moment in time is atypical of 95% of our species long history. Kindred's live, monthly discussions over the past year have revealed the many ways "real" people are working together to create new parallel structures capable of creating a Wisdom-based, Wellness-Informed Society, which has been our goal at Kindred World for over a quarter century. (Register for May’s live discussion below and here.)

What happens when, after questioning what is real, seeking and experiencing love and connection, we discard our false selves and weep with relief? This pivotal insight is unveiled at the end of the Velveteen Rabbit’s journey. He is a toy. A creation of a toy company sold to parents to entertain children. But the Velveteen’s Rabbit’s original form, not the manufactured, sawdust-stuffed, legless (and therefore powerless) knock-off form, but the original life-infused form... that form is real. And through his experience of connection, his heart remembers.

Every day, through every media platform pounding our attention spans into sawdust and holding us legless captives, our culture creates false images, sells them to us as better than our true forms, demands our compliance with life-denying narratives, and divides us into warring factions to compete for scarce crumbs of connection, now in the form of LIKE buttons. Darcia names this crazy-making our Cycle of Competitive Detachment

Look closely at the moment of transformation in the Velveteen Rabbit: the toy, who is based on Real Life, cries a real tear, creating a nature bridge, a fairy, to guide him back to his original, true form. Bianco's postwar-inspired, fairytale wisdom reveals: If we’re going to become real, we’re going to need to grieve the lie, and everything this false narrative spawns in its concocted, frantic busyness to make us look the other way.

As Suzanne Zeedyk shares in her post, Taking Attachment Science to the Public, “It is one thing to know this stuff. It is another thing to feel what it is like to know this stuff.” 
 
How do we know, or feel in our hearts, where we are in the space between stories – the story we’re sold of who we are and the story of who we really are? If worldviews create worlds, what worldview can help us create a more peaceful, sustainable world?

In his scholarly work identifying precepts of our Dominant Culture and contrasting (not binary) Kinship Worldview, Four Arrows’ Worldview Chart helps us shift into our capacity for meta-cognition, or Big Picture awareness. (Download the free poster.)

The new book by Four Arrows and Darcia Narvaez, Restoring Our Kinship Worldview, is a treasure of Indigenous voices further illuminating 28 of the 40 precepts listed on the Worldview Chart.

As Darcia shares, "We take a quote related to the precept from a First Nation person and then discuss what it means and how to take up the precept. Here are a few of the precepts we discuss:

  • Recognition of Spiritual Energies in Nature, with quote from Mourning Dove (Okinagan and Sinixt)
  • Emphasis on Community Welfare, with quote from Doña Enriqueta Contreras (Zapotecan)
  • High Respect for the Sacred Feminine, with quote from Paula Allen Gunn (Laguna Pueblo)
  • Respect for Gender Role Fluidity, with quote from Laura Hall (Haudenosaunee)
  • All Earth Entities are Sentient, with quote from Robin Wall Kimmerer (Potowatomi)
  • Humor as Essential, with quote from Charlie Hill (Oneida)
  • Conflict Resolution as Return to Community, with quote from Wanda D. McCasin (Metiz)
  • Laws of Nature as Highest Rules for Living, with quote from Winona LaDuke (Ojibwe) 
  • Becoming Fully Human, with quote from Greg Cajete (Tewa, Santa Clara Pueblo)
  • An Emphasis on Heart Wisdom, with quote from Ilarion Larry Merculieff (Unangan)"

"Taking up the Indigenous Worldview may be a critical aspect of reversing the destructive pathway we are on. But it is not enough. We need to honor and maintain the longstanding wisdom of First Nation Peoples in caring for local landscapes upon which human life depends." Listen to Kindred’s podcast interview with Darcia and Four Arrows, and find a selection of videos below to discover how deep into the territory of reclaiming our own humanity Restoring Our Kinship Worldview can take us.

The process of throwing off our Dominant Culture’s saw-dust stuffed narrative of who we are and reclaiming our capacity for thriving through a Kinship Worldview has many names these days: decolonization, rewilding, Indigenization. But I like to think of our transformation as one of Becoming Real. (Bianco's lesser known subtitle of The Velveteen Rabbit is How Toys Become Real.)

Kindred's resources to help us on our journey are many and include the Evolved Nest's Self-Directed Learning Center (how to reset shifted baselines for wellness); the Eco-Attachment Dance (nature connection in 28 days); the Breaking the Cycle short film; and the Kindred Fellowship Program (how we're supporting a new generation of New Cycle Makers and passing the torch at Kindred). Just to name a few.

In recognition of Earth Day, Four Arrows and Darcia Narvaez recorded this video sharing What We Can Do On Earth Day And Every Day, which includes four strategies and resources.

If you’re ever stuck, wondering how to participate in this new vision for our Earth family, just give us a shout out. We’ll joyfully whisper where the bunnies are holding hands and dancing in the woods (scroll down below!), where the celebrations of life and our brief time of stewardship are taking place, and welcome you to your Kindred family. As the Velveteen Rabbit story promises, our journey through fear, grief, and rebirth are worth our efforts, because, “Once you’re real, you can’t become unreal again. It lasts for always.”

Happy Earth Day,

editor@kindredmedia.org
Kindred Media, Editor
Kindred World, Co-Founder
This issue of Kindred is dedicated to the loving memory and gentle spirit of Jared Andrew Shaner, June 16, 2000 – January 27, 2022, who left his friends and family unexpectedly this winter. The Reagan family, and the Kindred family, are grateful for the impact of Jared's brief bright light on our lives, on our dedication to serve, and the lives of those he touched. You are deeply loved and missed, and will not be forgotten, Jared.
EARTH DAY
How Every Day Can Be Earth Day
Enjoy a short video from Darcia Narvaez and Four Arrows answering the question, "What are the best things that we can do on Earth Day and everyday thereafter?" Their insights are strategic, resourceful, and practical.

Book LAUNCH
On Indigenous Voices: A California Institute of Integral Studies, CIIS, Presentation
Indigenous worldviews, and the knowledge they confer, are critical for human survival and the wellbeing of future generations. Author and Professor of Education, Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows), and author and Professor Emerita of Psychology Darcia Narvaez have both written and lectured extensively on the need to integrate Indigenous worldviews into every aspect of society—from education to sustainability, wellness, and justice.  

Through their work and writing, Four Arrows and Darcia emphasize the deep need to move away from the dominant Western paradigm—one that dictates we live without strong social purpose, fails to honor the Earth as sacred, leads with the head while ignoring the heart, and places individual “rights” over collective responsibility. Their most recent collaboration as editors of the anthology Restoring the Kinship Worldview, presents 28 powerful excerpted passages from Indigenous leaders including Mourning Dove, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Winona LaDuke, and Xiuhtezcatl Martinez. 

Join Four Arrows and Darcia for a conversation exploring the wisdom of Indigenous worldviews and how embracing these precepts can nourish our individual and collective lives in these challenging times.

By embracing our kindship , we can realize an Indigenous vision and strong social purpose that sees all life forms as sacred and sentient. Discover how these ideals can provide a holistic orientation to lead us away from extinction toward an integrated, sustainable future.

A Virtual Conversation with Darcia Narvaez and Wahinkpe Topa, Co-Editors of RESTORING THE KINSHIP WORLDVIEW, and Lisa Reagan!
A Room of One's Own welcomed Darcia Narvaez and Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows), co-editors of Restoring the Kinship Worldview: Indigenous Quotes, Reflections, and Dialogues for Healing Our World, for a virtual conversation on Crowdcast with Lisa Reagan! The interactive event includes the Q&A with over 80 participants.

Kindred Podcast: Restoring Our Kinship Worldview: Indigenous Voices Introduce 28 Precepts For Rebalancing Life On Planet Earth
Listen to Restoring the Kinship Worldview editors, Four Arrows and Darcia Narvaez, talk with Lisa Reagan about their new book. 

In the new book, Restoring the Kinship Worldview: Indigenous voices introduce 28 precepts for rebalancing life on planet Earth,* Four Arrows and Darcia Narvaez dialogue about 28 of the 40 Indigenous Worldview precepts he has identified (see his worldview chart). The editors take a quote related to the precept from a First Nation person and then discuss what it means and how to take up the precept.

Taking up the Indigenous Worldview may be a critical aspect of reversing the destructive pathway we are on. But it is not enough. We need to honor and maintain the longstanding wisdom of First Nation Peoples in caring for local landscapes upon which human life depends.

Kindred PODCASTS
Seven Life Initiations For Human Transformation,
And How To Reclaim Them: With Isa Guicciardi
Lisa Reagan talks with Isa Gucciardi, PhD, about the seven life initiations needed to move into our full state of wholeness and our full potential for thriving – and what happens when these initiations are broken, interrupted, or culturally unacknowledged. Isa shares her considerable insight into how we are thwarted from completing our seven initiations, and how we can reclaim, and even heal, our innate paths to flourishing.

Included are the seven initiations excerpted from Chapter 4: The Seven Initiatory Stages, from Isa’s book, The New Return to the Great Mother.

BONUS GIFT: The Great Mother Meditation, with Isa Gucciardi, PhD, can be accessed here with the coupon code KINDRED.

What Does It Mean To Thrive?
We all want to reach our potential but we need an understanding of what thriving looks like. Though positive psychology has provided a little guidance, there are many more aspects of thriving that we can find in those who are provided our evolved nest.

Listen to Darcia Narvaez and Mary Tarsha discuss thriving and the Evolved Nest in this podcast.

Why Do Adults Spank Kids And What Are The Alternatives?
Podcast Description: Spanking and other forms of corporally punishing children are widespread across the world and in different cultures. There is a global movement seeking to protect children from such punishments. Science today shows their long term harm on children and communities.

This podcast also includes an extensive post with the key points:

  • Too many adults misunderstand child development, leading to unrealistic expectations.
  • Children learn in different ways at different ages—they should not be punished for it.
  • Children should be supported in their learning and, thereby, self-confidence.

VIDEOS
A Path Away from War: The Science of Peace Systems
Can humanity end war forever? The new science of peace systems highlights the key ingredients for creating sustainable peace among societies.

This film introduces several historical and cross-cultural peace systems from tribal peoples to nations, and even regions, to explore how peace systems can provide insights on how to end wars and promote intergroup cooperation. 

Written and narrated byDr. Douglas P. Fry & Dr. Geneviève Souillac, and produced by Sustainable Humans.

Trauma-Informed Rap Video Features Words Of Gabor Maté, MD
Watch the video “Healing” by Verb T & Illinformed below and listen for Gabor Mate’s words on trauma and recovery at the 2:29 minute mark. In response to the video, Gabor Maté, MD, Tweeted, “A nice surprise to have one of my talks sampled at the end of this powerful song, Healing, by UK rapper.”

The band replied on their social media platform, “Gabor Maté was one of the influences for the song Healing so meant a lot to see him post it. Anyone not already familiar with his work on trauma and healing I would highly recommend it.”

Find resources on the page for ACES, trauma-informed, and addiction and recovery.

Climate Resilience & The Evolution Of Human Consciousness: The Secret Of Healing Trauma In An Era Of Crisis
“We need to harness the power of focus so that the children of the future can have a world in which to thrive.” – Stephanie Mines, PhD, Founder of the TARA Approach and Climate Change & Consciousness

Stephanie Mines talks with Lev Natan, of Alliance for A Viable Future, about the evolution of consciousness that is accelerated right now. Dr. Mines speaks from her background as a neuroscientist and embryologist, about how we are born for these times. Her understanding of neurodevelopment takes us beyond trauma to the indestructible resilience and buoyancy evidenced by embryonic intelligence.
 
This is an inspiring and informative experience that uplifts you and encourages your original brilliance. 

The Evolved Nest For Children: A Manzanita School Video Series
The Evolved Nest for Children video is born of a recognition of human ancestry and a study of the successful practices of nature-based peoples who’s cultures embody practices found for over 99% of our human history. Similarly, at Manzanita School, we recognize that adolescents are in a dramatic transition moment and have vital biological and cultural needs determined by their long evolutionary prehistory. 

These inputs are what they expect from their world, and from the adults in that world. It is vital that we structure schooling to meet those needs if we want our youth to flourish. Manzanita School is located in Topanga Canyon, in the Santa Monica Mountains of Los Angeles County. 

Blog POSTS
Unsettling Coloniality In The Psychological Sciences By Restoring Our Kinship Worldview

By Four Arrows

Psychology is the go-to social science for helping mitigate imbalanced mental capacity and behavior. This article shows how it is also one of the most colonized science disciplines. It explains how it contributes indirectly to or at least does little to prevent calamities like global warming, high extinction rates, pollution, sexual abuse, hate crimes, and racism. It offers that metacognitive worldview reflection that focuses on re-embracing Indigenous worldview precepts is the best way to challenge the colonial assumptions behind most psychological approaches effectively.
Taking The Science Of Attachment To The Public

By Suzanne Zeedyk

After more than a decade of working with the public, disseminating what I call the Science of Connection, I find myself often mulling over a question: Why does our culture still have such a poor appreciation of the impact of childhood experiences?
I write this piece while watching television coverage of war refugees streaming across the borders of Ukraine. These are children, pouring out of a European country now under bombing from its neighbour. The last time such scenes occurred, it was John Bowlby and his colleagues doing the writing. That was 80 years ago. Here we are again.
The Great Resignation — Brought To You By: Women

By Kelly Wendorf

Here’s what would happen if the US took a concerted effort to join those top ten countries in protecting the legal rights of women, and as well followed the Nordic model of funding healthcare and education: outcomes for children would improve, outcomes for elderly would improve, and outcomes for other marginalized populations would improve. Our economy would flourish. Our households would be more peaceful.
It Takes A Community
To Raise A Reader

By Pam Leo

One of the Covid casualties is the setback to young children’s literacy. Literacy experts say that many students have lost up to 30% of literacy gains since the pandemic began... The number one skill young children need as part of their foundation for learning to read is learning to love books. Children learn to love books by being read to. It is that simple. 
Kindred Fellowship Welcomes Our Next Generation of Trance-Breakers and New Cycle Makers
Welcome to 2002's Instructors, Returning Alumni, and New Fellows!
Kindred Fellowship Program explores the possibilities of a sustainable strategy for cultural transformation through Kindred Activism, an approach that centers childhood advocacy that is rooted, connected, and imaginative.

KFP's staff is deep into talking with over 40 applicants for our four fellowship awards for 2022. We will announce the new cohort in May. The 2022 summer program runs from June 14 to July 31.

Suzanne Zeedyk, an ACES advocate and human connection scholar, wrote on her Twitter wall this week, "I am so relieved to be part of the Kindred
Fellowship Programme this summer. Being in contact with such determined activism keeps me sane & hopeful, during these times in which I am frequently scared & overwhelmed by sadness." Suzanne will join an international group of KFP instructors this summer. Read her current post on Kindred, Taking Attachment Science to the Public.

KFP’s unique mission is to guide students on an innovative educational journey that explores the systemic roots of social (in)justice in childhood through kindred activism: a theory of activism centering childhood in activism that is authentic, relational, and imaginative.

The program has been featured on the Centers for Partnership Studies Leadership blog, the Rutger’s University’s Childism Institute blog, and in an ongoing series on Kindred Media.

Meet our 2022 instructors and learn more about KFP's vision here.

KFP is a sister initiative of Kindred Media through our parent nonprofit, Kindred World. Learn more about KFP and apply for the program at www.KindredFellows.org.
Congratulations, WAYFINDER!
Midwife Jennie Joseph Honored As TIME Magazine’s 12 Women Of The Year
Deeply horrified by the American medical model’s treatment of pregnant women and babies when she arrived in the United States in the 80s, British-trained midwife Jennie Joseph successfully worked to create an evidence-based model of prenatal care for women, especially women of color who are three to five times more likely to die in childbirth in the US than white mothers. Her pioneering work includes providing human connection and empowering education, while also training mothers, fathers and extended family members to identify and arrest the cascade of interventions inside the hospital birth system that lead to complications and death.

Jennie Joseph’s interview with Kindred in 2018 aligned with the first annual Black Maternal Health Week from April 11-17, 2018, and the March for Moms on Washington, DC, on May 6, 2018, where women demanded the implementation of missing public policies and social safety nets to support mothers and babies found in most developed countries. As Jennie says in the Kindred interview, "the only way forward now is grassroots movements of individuals and organizations acting collaboratively and intentionally as a consciousness-raising movement to save ourselves from an unyielding, capitalist and deadly medical system."

Watch the Time Magazine video, and discover links to the Kindred Wisdom Archive interview, along with maternal health reports and resources here.
Breaking the Cycle Film LIVE Discussion!
Breaking the Cycle LIVE Film Discussions
May 9, 2022 from 
8 to 9 p.m. ET

You're also invited to join the upcoming LIVE DISCUSSIONS with Darcia Narvaez and Lisa Reagan. These discussions are not recorded for the comfort of participants. They are free and open to the public, but you must register to join.

Visit the film's site to view the film and discover resources.

Join Breaking the Cyce's Mighty Networks Discussion Group here.
REMINDER
Meet the Wayfinders Will Run Through April 2022
The Meet the Wayfinders oral history collection of empowering, personal stories features video interviews with nine professionals, parents, and scientists who found ways around breastfeeding advocacy barriers, or just broke them! The series was created at the invitation of La Leche League International in celebration of their 65th Anniversary Conference held October 15-18, 2021. While the series was presented live in October, the public can still view the collection on LLLI’s website until April 2022.

Discover COMMUNITY
Join Kindred Community on Mighty Networks!
If you want to stay up with our posts, podcasts, and interviews, but want to avoid mainstream social media, join our dedicated Mighty Networks platform at www.KindredCommunity.org.

There are private groups for each Kindred World initiative, notices of Zoom meetings and LIVE discussions, and a way to navigate by topic.

We screen our participants and remove trolls or spammers. Kindred Community is a safe place to connect with like-minded trance-breakers and new cycle makers!

DONATE
Please Support Kindred World's Nonprofit Initiatives
For over a quarter century, Kindred World's nonprofit work has been possible through our dedicated donors! Please support our nonprofit work with you tax-deductible donation here.

Read our 88 Great Nonprofits' five-star reviews here.

You can choose which initiative you would like to support in the PayPal link, or by visiting the initiative's website. See all of Kindred World's initiatives here. Learn more about becoming an organizational partner here.
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