Adrienne Maree Brown: Are you satisfiable? (Archival)

Hurry Slowly

What does it mean to be satisfiable? And how do you recognize when you have “enough”?

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These questions are central not just to our own well-being but to attaining a more just and equitable society. For this conversation, I sit down with writer, facilitator, and activist adrienne maree brown, who recently published the excellent book Pleasure Activism.

We take an in-depth look at how we might define pleasure for ourselves, the wisdom that we can access when we really drop into our bodies, and what it means to figure out how to be satisfiable — to recognize that you have enough.

Key takeaways from this conversation:

• How to invite the “orgasmic yes” into your life
• Why you should do something to awaken your body every day
• How to create more equity by sharing your “idea lineage”
• Why you don’t have to produce anything to feel satisfaction
• Ideas on how to “give without grasping”

Go Deeper

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Favorite Quotes

“I’ll ask people, ‘When was the last time you were satisfied? Can you imagine being satisfied? What are the things that satisfy you in a given day? How do you know that you have done enough in a given day? Do you understand that you don’t have to produce anything to deserve satisfaction?’”

“We’re all so often showing up and giving each other the bare minimum of presence and then surprised that we can’t feel each other, that we don’t actually feel the depth of connection that we’re longing for.”

“There’s something about being in right relationship to change that acknowledges that not all change is meant to be driven, some of it is meant to be experienced in other ways.”

Resources

The references and ideas that we mention in this epi:

• An introduction to somatics
• Media justice activist Malkia Cyril
• Centering practice with Sumitra Rajkumar
• Toshi Reagon’s opera The Parable of the Sower
• Matt McGorry and sharing “idea lineages”
• The Audre Lorde Project
• Octavia Butler, author of Parable of the Sower
• adrienne’s books: Emergent Strategy and Pleasure Activism
• Staci Haines who asked the question: “Are you satisfiable?”
• Adrienne’s mentor Grace Lee Boggs
• My online course RESET, a cosmic tune-up for your workday
• Follow adrienne at: Website | Instagram

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