We carefully present to you the core values that drive our everyday efforts. They are far from perfect and constantly being reevaluated. We crave your feedback. Please let us know which statements draw you in, which ones push you away, and which ones are missing. Together, we can create a community where you feel excited to show up as your most Fiercely OK self!
1.
Inclusion, Encouragement & Celebration
We encourage you, no matter who you are, to show up exactly as you are. We believe all humans are gift-bringers and we do our best to eliminate all barriers to you showing up and shining your light. In our spaces, all feelings are welcomed and valued as vital sources of energy and information. To encourage a sense of safety and freedom of expression, we remain sensitive to power dynamics within our communities and actively work to ensure that a diversity of experiences are encouraged, normalized and/or given a voice. If the quietest, most traumatized individual doesn’t feel safe enough to take the first step toward showing up in our community, then we all have work to do. We take responsibility for learning the history of the lands on which we offer our gifts and of the people who walk through our doors. We hold ourselves accountable for creating an encouraging space by consistently seeking feedback.
2.
Possibility, Curiosity & Discernment
As much as is helpful, we approach ourselves, one another and all of life with curiosity. We hold our hearts and minds open to possibility, while also practicing discernment. We acknowledge that the narratives of our minds are powerful and so we choose them carefully. E.g., We choose to believe that there are no victims, heroes or villains among us. We choose to believe that each of us is Fiercely OK and has everything we need inside of us at all times to satisfy our deepest needs and longings. By approaching our feelings with curiosity, we may find that we experience less resistance to them. They can flow through us, rather than getting stuck and becoming chronic. By approaching one another with curiosity and openness, we support the creation of a space where people feel safe, seen, and brave enough to live their truth.
3.
Creativity, Play & Messiness
We place creativity, imagination and play at the centre of our work. We believe in the power of the arts to support self-exploration and discovery, connection to inner resources, healing, and growth. We make space for mistakes, learning, laughter, healing and repair. We acknowledge that we are all messy humans with healing work to do. We let ourselves get messy and fail, and practice compassion when we do. This is how we grow!
4.
Courage, Integrity & Responsibility
In the words of Brené Brown, “[We] choose courage over comfort. [We] choose what is right over what is fun, fast, or easy. And [we] choose to practice [our] values rather than simply professing them.” With courage, we take responsibility for our experience within the community and also for our impact on others. We take care of ourselves by honouring our needs, desires and boundaries, and bravely asking for help. Through our careful attention, intention, behaviour and words, we participate actively in creating a space where all people feel encouraged to show up as themselves. When we make mistakes, we seek repair.
5.
Community & Care
We do the work together, acknowledging that we all long to belong and resilience lives in the community. Fierce OKness is forever driving us to fulfil our basic needs: to love, be loved and be seen. We recognize that we cannot fulfil these needs on our own. We come together to practice the braving skills required to build trusting relationships and satisfy our longings.
6.
Balance & Harmony
We seek balance and harmony in everything we do and in everything that we are, with the intention of promoting greater balance and harmony in the world. As we work to nurture Fierce OKness within ourselves, we remember that our individual healing fits within a greater context of healing on the planet. We set the fierce intention to share our surplus energy and resources to support wellness, balance and harmony within and between all life around us. We acknowledge that polarization may be one of the greatest current threats to harmony & balance. We actively seek to exemplify the peaceful and supportive coexistence of opposites.
7.
Gratitude
When in doubt, we practice gratitude. We acknowledge that grief is often the gateway to gratitude, so we open the doors of our hearts to both.
“Feelings of hopelessness, fear, blame, pain, discomfort, vulnerability, and disconnection sabotage resilience. The only experience that seems broad and fierce enough to combat a list like that is the belief that we’re all in this together and that something greater than us has the capacity to bring love and compassion into our lives.”