Last week, I was typing away on my computer in the garden outside our apartment when suddenly I was joined by two folks who just finished an eight-day ayahuasca retreat.
I could feel their energy. They seemed “activated.”
I was curious about them. I wanted to know where their head and hearts were at after such a profound experience.
So we started chatting about how they were feeling after 8 days communing with a famously potent plant medicine
Before long the topic switched to me, and the work that I was doing that allowed me to stay in Guatemala for such an extended amount of time.
I shared that I was a justice informed business coach + ethical consultant for online entrepreneurs.
The conversation took another turn and we started to discuss systemic dis-ease and oppression. The three of us asked questions about how we can each do our part in the movement for collective liberation.
We talked about Atitlan specifically, and how tourism, increased population and industry were polluting the lake, and we wondered how that was impacting the indigenous people who rely on the lake to wash their dishes, their clothes and themselves.
It seemed relevant for me to share an analogy that has been incredibly helpful as I explored what it means to be a change agent in a toxic system.
This analogy, that comes to me from the Racial Equity Institute, is called The Groundwater Approach.
You can read the whole Groundwater Approach Analogy in the resource section of the Racial Equity Institute’s website, but I am going to share my interpretation of it with you here:
I am going to ask you to imagine two scenarios.
First, I want you to imagine you are walking through the woods and you come to a pristine lake. You see a healthy ecosystem, and astonishingly beautiful water.
As you take in the beautiful scenery, you notice a dead fish on the shore of the lake.
You might think to yourself, “Poor fish… Did they eat something poisonous?”
“Maybe they injured themself?”
“Perhaps it was just their time to go?”
Then, you would most likely, go about your day.
Now, in the second scenario, I want to invite you to imagine you are walking through a sick forest. All the plants are dead, the animals have all left, and then you come upon a lake that is polluted and toxic.
You see hundreds of dead fish on the surface of the water.
In the context of the environmental destruction, you probably won’t think:
“What did all these fish do to themselves to end up dead?
Your intuition would alert you that there is something wrong with the whole ecosystem.
In this second scenario, it is obvious that it isn’t a problem with individual fish, it’s an environmental issue that extends all the way down to the groundwater.
In order to save the fish, the lake, and the surrounding forest, you have to go to the root of the issue.
In this analogy from the Racial Equity Institute, the fish are people, and the toxic lake refers to systems of oppression that lead to disparities and disease within communities of color and other marginalized groups
The polluted groundwater represents the internalized beliefs that allow systems of oppression to thrive.
The groundwater analogy shows us that sometimes helping individuals (fish in this case) isn’t enough.
Often we have to focus on larger systems (the lake and the groundwater) if we want to make a lasting impact.
Back in my little garden here in Atitlan, the two backpackers were nodding their heads.
One said “Wow, thanks for sharing with us. I’m curious, what is the toxic lake you are addressing in your work?”
For a few moments, I just sat there, thinking about how profound his question was, and feeling into how to best respond.
“My toxic lake is complex. It’s filled with profit-first business models, harmful marketing tactics, fancy branding that promotes substance-less goods.
It has good intentions that fail to make an impact. And it is filled to the brim with people who think that business and politics don’t go together.”
Everyday in the online business space I see entrepreneurs choosing profits over the people they are supposed to serve.
I see coaches using shame and false urgency to manipulate their audience into purchasing their packages.
I witness folks with good intentions causing harm, because they haven’t done the work to understand their own privilege and larger systems of oppression.
I am constantly bombarded with pretty logos, and sparkling fonts that market “transformation” but ultimately fail to address root issues.
This is my toxic lake.
These are the issues that I am working to “clean up” with my work everyday.
Almost a week later I’m still sitting with this question. “What is the toxic lake you are addressing with your work?”
Because it creates space for us to examining the larger mission within our businesses…
Each and every one of us is dealing with our own version of a toxic lake.
We are all living within systems that were meant to serve only a small few, and leave the rest of us gasping for what little clean air we can find.
It’s so powerful for us to give a name to the parts of the world that we are working to dismantle, because it helps us see with extreme clarity the path that lies ahead, and it helps us get strategic about how to spend our energy.
I know I have been asking a lot of questions lately, and today, I’m going to ask you another one.
The questions I ask are meant to help you get clear on your mission and help you take action to make your impact.
My question for today is:
What is your “toxic lake” and what are you doing to clean up the entire ecosystem that feeds it?
If you need help identifying what your toxic lake is, or if you know what it is, but you need support crafting an action plan to begin cleaning it up..
Click here to book a free discernment call.
On this call, we will explore your vision for change and find out how I can support you in dissolving doubts so you can build an action plan to clean the toxic lake that you are working to fix.
Love + Liberation
Lauren Elizabeth