Engaged Liberation

Not too long ago I got to tell a story about what it means to be misnamed in America—and still be essential to it: how Latino, Brown, and bodies of Culture communities have built, powered, and continue to shape this country, while often being reduced, misunderstood, or erased. I explored the shift from being treated as passengers to claiming our place as architects of the future, and why naming ourselves, correctly and unapologetically, is an act of power.I’m sharing it here because this conversation isn’t just for that room, it’s for all of us navigating identity, value, and belonging in a world that still gets our names wrong.Engaged Liberation is a labor of love. But it is labor. If you love it, support it for less than $5/mo. Thank you!Engaged Liberation is you supported. publication. Consider supporting. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

I loved this chat, I know you will too. Veronica is a creative force. We get into being mirrors, journaling, living our parents dreams, being our parents dreams, and getting into the ugly - being our ugly and messy. Make sure to check out all things To Get To The Mango Tree and let us know what you think about all this genius and beauty and these gems. Engaged Liberation is a labor of love. But it is labor. If you love it, support it for less than $5/mo. Thank you!Engaged Liberation is reader-supported. Consider supporting. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

“People can envision the end of the world, before they can envision the end of capitalism, why do you think that is!?”This was too short of a conversation. You are going to love every bit of this. You will be lit up by it. I promise you - a part II is coming soon. Make sure to check out How To Cure a ghost and all of Fariha’s beautiful work. And let us know what you think in the comments on all the powerful and medicinal gems. What should we chat about in Part II? Engaged Liberation is a labor of love. But it is labor. If you love it, support it for less than $5/mo. Thank you!Engaged Liberation is you-supported. Consider supporting. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

We all need a little help! And Mark Pagan is a great conduit to joyfully and lovely finding a community of people who are not shy to ask for help. I have known Mark and his beautiful work for years. Was so honored to sit down and chat all things from consumption, to good gift giving, to the wildfire of this country, to doing less and loving more. Check it out and enjoy! Engaged Liberation is reader-supported. Consider supporting.If you find medicine here, buy me a coffee and/or support me for just $3.75!& buy a copy of Brown Enough (one for you, one for the homie, one for the neighborhood library) and listen to Season 3 of the podcast! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

Gabriela is a brilliant mind, think, journalist and creator who brought me so much joy during our convo this week. Together we chat optimization - speeding up to slow down, loneliness, enjoying the loneliness, coming back to self. Make sure to check out her Substack, Irregardless, also her Instagram, and her incredible youtube show. She’s a real one!If you find medicine here, buy me a coffee and/or support me for just $3.75!& buy a copy of Brown Enough (one for you, one for the homie, one for the neighborhood library) and listen to Season 3 of the podcast!Engaged Liberation is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

This is the Unedited interview with Indya Moore from the Brown Enough podcast (season 2). It felt important to share this with the Substack community, as this is one of our most beloved and listened to episodes. With so so many gems! In this convo we chat Hollywood, being a revolutionary, mushrooms, joy, and more.The edited version can be found wherever you listen to podcasts.Indya Moore is an American actor and model. They are known for playing the role of Angel Evangelista in the FX television series Pose. Time named them one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019. Currently starring in Jim Jarmusch Father Mother Sister Brother.If you found some medicine here, consider buying me a coffee and/or supporting me for just $2.75!ps. Now’s a perfect time to buy a copy of Brown Enough in Paperback (one for you, one for the homie, one for the neighborhood library) and listen to Season 3 of the podcast!Engaged Liberation is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

This is the season premiere of Brown Enough, season 3! But I also had to share it with y’all, because it features Substacks finest, the incomparable Vico Ortiz — actor, activist, drag king, and joyful disruptor. From swashbuckling on screen to breaking binaries in life, Vico is redefining what it means to take up space with authenticity, be radically honest, have, courage, and play. In this chat, we talk all about finding ourselves, being ourselves, letting go of other peoples baggage, polyamory, self expression, fencing - the list goes on! It’s a juicy one. If you love Engaged Liberation, find some medicine and love here, consider buying me a coffee and/or supporting me here for just $2.75 / $3.35 / $5 a month! Also - now’s a perfect time to buy a copy of Brown Enough in Paperback (one for you, one for the homie, one for the neighborhood library) and listen to the Podcast, Season 3 just dropped! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s Engaged Liberation is absolutely incredible! I got to sit down with a friend, mentor, best selling author, the person I call when I need a ritual or limpia, and brilliant spark of life, Juliet Diaz, the author of The Altar Within, and other amazing reads. We chat communal liberation, solitude, how words are spells in your mouth, how our stories are our ancestors stories, reciprocity, freedom, radical activism, and that we all have the power to love everybody - no exceptions. It’s a great one! A powerful one! A medicinal one!Enjoy xoIf you love Engaged Liberation, find some medicine and love here, consider buying me a coffee and/or supporting me here for just $2.75 / $3.35 / $5 a month! Also - now’s a perfect time to buy a copy of Brown Enough in Paperback (one for you, one for the homie, one for the neighborhood library) and listen to the Podcast, Season 3 dropping October 15th!Engaged Liberation is you-supported. Support :) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

This is an unedited version of my original chat with the brilliant and hilarious Pooja Tripathi, for the Brown Enough Podcast. We chat comedy, violin, tugging on human heart strings, and taking risks. Pooja is the proud owner of the In My Culture Substack, where can find out about her latest existential crisis, what's been funny or inspirational to late… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

Yara Travieso is a brilliant artist, film maker, big feeler, and wisdom sharer. Yara embodies so much love and power in this world. I have been healed and quoted Yara many times in this life (“The more I heal, the less ambitious I become.”) and I will continue too. This is one of my favorite and most powerful conversations I’ve had on here. And now I have the privilege to share it with y’all. Enjoy.Some other clips of Yara’s wisdom:PS. a poem this convo inspired: Make the body tender.Not too softNot too firm.TenderOpen like earth after rain.The body is ancientIt spills, It seeps, It builds bridges.It is where all the answers are.We live through practices of connection. We learn that skin is not a wall But a prayer, A possibility.We turn up the volume On the desire to be more alive. Let the ache be a signal. Let the longing be a guide.Turn up the volumeOn our liberation. Until the silence of oppression cannot hold its shape.Let the body lead.Tender,Ancient,A map we were born with, A revolution we carry.If you love Engaged Liberation, consider supporting it for just $2.75 per month / $3.35 per month / or $5 per month (cheaper than an LA cup o’ coffee) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

“My responsibility is not to the ordinary, or the timely. My loyalty is to the inner vision, whenever and howsoever it may arrive. There is no other way work of artistic worth can be done. And the occasional success, to the striver, is worth everything. The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.” - The one and only Mary OliverEngaged Liberation is a you supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider subscribing.Melissa Lozada-Oliva is a Guatelombian (Guatemalan-Colombian) American writer. Her book Candelaria was named one of the best books of 2023 by VOGUE and USA Today. Her work explores the intersections of Latina identity, feminism, hair removal & what it means to belong. In this incredible convo we chat turning off our phones, bringing back Selena through seance, and paving our own way.The Full unedited episode can be found here and the edited version on Brown Enough. If you love Engaged Liberation, consider supporting it for $5, cheaper then my LA cup o’ coffee. You’ll gain access to weekly group meetings, as well as full access to the Engaged Liberation podcast. Thank you! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

Kristen McGuiness is the founder of Rise Books, she’s a best-selling author, editor, and an integral part to helping me birth Brown Enough into the world. She coached me through my own book proposal process and then helped me publish the book through the publishing company that she helped create (RowHouse). Now, through her new publishing company Rise Books - she offers incredible resources and services to authors at all levels of their artistic journey. One of those incredible offerings is their 5 Months to Memoir Seminar. I have done it and it's incredible!Have you been dreaming of writing your memoir? Have you started but don’t know where to go with it? Have you already finished your draft but feel like you need a space to workshop your book? Then Five Months to Memoir is for you .You can learn all about here and also in the video / episode. Enjoy and keep writing your story, keep speaking your truth. We need it. ps. The next workshop begins on Thursday, March 27th and goes through July 3rd. Sessions are from 10:00am-12:00pm PST every other week. The workshop is 10% off with the code WRITENOWIf you love Engaged Liberation, consider supporting it for $5/mo, cheaper then my Los Angeles cup of coffee. You’ll gain access to weekly group meetings, as well as full access to the Engaged Liberation podcast. Thank you! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

I got to chat with the one and only, Samuél Lopez-Barrantes (from, if not, Paris)… The first person I ever heard talk about Substack, and likely the reason I hopped onto this platform.We chatted all things creativity, writing processes, liberation, joy, oppression, and how if you want community you just have to go get it. This is a beautiful one. Enjoy This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

Kalah Hill is a freedom Doula, shame slayer, and pleasure activist! The founder of In Pleasure We Trust. On this wonderful chat we To find out more about Kalah and her services follow on Instagram @kalah.hill and check out her website www.inpleasurewetrust.comEngaged Liberation is free. If you love it, consider supporting it financially. For $5/mo, you’… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

This week I get the pleasure of chatting with Candy Santana, a brilliant actress, author, and former lawyer! Enjoy this conversation on acceptance and hearing that call inside of us, the one that says whether to stay, go, stop or change directions…. As Lauryn Hill says beautifully, “God gave us a steering wheel for a reason.” Sometimes we have to turn l… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

I hide my face when I cry. Or at least I turn my face away from anyone around. Doesn’t matter if it’s a best friend, my partner, family - I’ve been turning away and hiding my tears for almost my whole life. In one way, I’m glad I’m even crying. Crying in general, letting the salt water leak from my face was hard for me for about 28 years. You should have seen the internal crisis I had when watching The Lion King in movie theaters for the first time - I had to leave when Simba’s dad wouldn’t wake up (spoiler)… It’s was all the cliche’s you can think of: I didn’t really see my father cry, I believed it was weak, I didn’t know it’s medicinal benefits, the feelings felt bigger than I could grasp, it wasn’t what men did… But here I am now, 36 years old and still hiding my face, hiding my tears. Which inherently says, “you shouldn’t see this” or “this is wrong.”Maybe it’s just habitual - this hiding - a story that tells me I have to be some stone faced perfect person who always feels okay (whatever okay is). But, like any habit, it simply takes awareness and practice to start a new one… to recognize and engage with this wanting to hide, and in that recognition I can instead choose to look into the eyes of whoever I am with, and to cry with my head high. Engaged Liberation is reader-supported. Consider supporting me for significantly less than an $8 Oat Milk latte. Hopefully these writings are just as delicious and caffeinating. Because Liberation is all about recognizing, not running, not hiding. It's about accepting that pain, the emotion, and not letting it define me. I cry, you cry, we all cry, and liberation tells us, "That’s part of this whole thing." Or as the poet Gibran would say, “I cried enough tears till I dug me a permanent smile.” Liberation isn't about being perfect; it’s about intimacy with the moment, with whatever that moment has to offer, and not shying away from it. Engaging with the messiness of this life, even when it means letting you see me wiping the tears from my beautiful face.xo This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

*I highly recommend you listen to this one.“Without art there is no modern world, just a barbaric one. If my art has nothing to do with people's pain and sorrow, what is 'art' for?” - Ai Wei WeiPASTI don’t know the exact point, but I know it was early on. As early as the story, which is as early as us. We crafted gifts, we called it art. It wasn’t about weightless viral messages, it was about truth. Liberation.That’s what the ancients did. They told us, Your world is about to fall apart, it’s about to collapse. Save it, now, before it’s too late. PRESENTWhat is that rule of three - fast, cheap, good - you can only have 2. Why has good been sacrificed for cheap and fast? "Will it sell?" they wonder. “Will it reach the socials?” they hope.... Is it a coincidence that Society rhymes with Anxiety? Or that content and to be content are the same word?As in, I wish to be content, but to even think about being content reminds me that I am most certainly content. Because content is everything right!? This is why Spotify CEO Daniel Ek says artists need to work harder, “it’s about creating continuous engagement and keeping a continuous dialogue.”Continuous. Is this why I can’t sleep? Continuous. Why I wake with a stomach tied in knots? Continuous. Because I’m not making enough continuous content to be content? Content that will most certainly be forgotten by the next piece of content and the next and the next. When they say work harder, do more, post more - they don't know how hard it is to actually birth something meaningful, to cultivate, to make, to try, to try, to try, to pitch, to arrange and rearrange, to begin again. They might understand the Bugs Bunny mathematix of paying an artist less than a penny per stream - but they don't know art. And so, great artists chew on leather so that CEO's can save a buck, so they can make it faster and cheaper. Stuck so deep in the gospel of more they forget why they started to begin with. They have lost themselves to the bottom line.More is the religion of right now, and it is a broken religion. Think of the great art and artists we have lost in search of more. Those displaced because they didn't have the space to create. More is taking more from our physical and mental health than it can give in return. It’s like the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland. She runs and runs but she never seems to get anywhere. She tells Alice, “In my country, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.”Or like an employee who walks into his boss’s office and asks for a raise, the boss says– “I can’t raise your salary but if you want to earn more money, all you need to do is work more hours. Don’t go home, don’t sleep, don’t go to brunch, don’t go see your mom on the weekends, miss the funeral, the wedding, and the birthdays, stay here, deliver product - ”The gospel of more will tell you product is all that exists, that everything is made of it, and nothing exists outside of it. But this isn’t true, because according to physics – at everything’s core, there’s actually nothing. Even objects as solid as rocks, chairs, you and me, have nothing substantial at their core. So here I am sweating for something that is empty at its core. And when it finally comes I don’t even know how to enjoy it because I’m onto the next. What’s the point of it all if I can’t enjoy it?Instead of, “Have I worked hard enough to deserve rest?” May we now ask, “have I rested enough to birth my most loving and meaningful creation?” FUTURE I believe what many indigenous cultures believe, we're alive just as nature is alive: to be here, to be beautiful & strange. What we really want is peace, admit it. A gut that isn’t in shambles. A calm nervous system. Imagine if we could make art and not product. Making and sharing for the beauty of sharing. We create worlds and invite people in.Initiating a conversation between ourselves and the people who are engaging with our spirits. This kind of collaboration is at the heart of what it is to be human, what it is to be in our time, and what it means to be part of civilization. Who we free will be part of the future, and it will help to shape whatever future that will be.Because, the future is not fixed. The “future” is not a destination. The future is a practice of now. A co-created set of decisions, of happenings, and loved-out-loud questions in the only moment where there is breath. Now. We are each other’s future.xo*composed by Adrien Prevost This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

If the continual looking outward at other people’s lives makes you feel inadequate, why not stop? If the reminders of what you don’t have hurt / are more than you can handle, why not disconnect? Why not give up the addiction to your own discontent. Disconnect from comparison (that their of joy). Disconnect. See the world that is here. The world as it is. Right here. Right now. See why you can’t leave or walk away. See the excuses. The stories. The addiction. The habits. Just because everyone is doing it, or everyone is on it doesn’t mean you have to be as well. Why not free yourself?Get Free. So I can be free. xo  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

This is one of those Buddhist tenants that have always bugged me a little bit. The idea that reality is permeable, or fluctuating, or easily suggestible. As in, there is our reality, not a single reality. In simple terms - when you are in a rush, everyone is moving to slowly. When you just got great news, or are falling in love, everyone is moving at the perfect speed. One little thing can turn our whole day upside down or right side up. Life is how we think about it. Eyes show different people different things. Glass half full / half - you get it - In physics it’s called the measurement problem. The theory that the observer always affects what’s observed. How we look at something changes it. It’s also called the The dandelion principle. Some people call a dandelion a weed, a menis, and for some it’s medicine, a detoxifier to the liver, a tool for women to produce more breast milk.There are many dharmic teachings that remind us that so much of our life is not just the action but also the state of con­sciousness that we choose to reside in. Our suggestible storytelling and story-filled mind is the very thing that determines the nature and quality of the words we utter and actions we take. There are people who have it all and still don’t feel enough. People who are powerful, famous, rich, and still profoundly unhappy. Okay, this all makes sense to me… Now, what if I say that I see a ton of disparity, unfair death, war, genocide, a planet in pain, abuse and greed, is that all just in my mind? No - these things are most defiantly happening, but as you know - some people do not see them that way. Some people don’t see a planet hurting. Some people only see profit and not people. Some people are in fear for their lives while others see justice and righteousness taking effect. I think the phrase, “all that you see out in front of you is how you feel inside your head” is more about this ability we have to convince ourselves of anything. To come up with and believe in a story that serves or harms us. And since we are so suggestible, one of the things we get to do in this life is open up this field of inquiry. Ask ourselves, is this real? Is this thought real? Does this cause harm? Am I complicit? Is this that serious compared to what could be happening? By taking a moment to arrive and see what truly is, to take in a perspective larger than just our story, we’re allowing reality to come to us. A reality that is much bigger than us as the main character. A reality that says we are tiny pieces of dust, but also, we can love, take action, and heal in profound ways. A reality that is both beautiful and full of devastation. A reality where what we do matters and doesn’t matter at all. By opening up this field of inquiry, we’re seeing what's here rather than imposing a story about what's here. This requires us to take on the task of challenging what we have been told, and going head to head with the oppression we have internalized through any allegiance we may have to poisonous and outdated stories.How much liberation is in our lives depends on how much space we make for it to exist - in all that is here, not simply what we pick and choose to be here. xo Engaged Liberation is a labor of love. If you appreciate the time and effort that has gone into this, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

Mariana is a brilliant artist and astrologer based in Medellin, Colombia but nurturing wisdom and readings worldwide. Mariana blessed me this week. With a very inspiring convo but disciple as the way to liberation, as well as with a very on point and public Tarot card reading! That is now all of ours reading. Enjoy. Love & Liberation xo This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

I don’t know if I’ve ever truly arrived in my life. In moments of course. I think we all know these moments when we’re so completely present it almost feels unfair and completely like what life should always feel like all the time. Those moments when life hits us in the most beautiful way. It’s often simple things like an incredible meal with people you love. An incredible cup of coffee before the chaos of the day begins. Or, arriving in a place that soothes your soul and doesn’t call you to pick up your phone for some other stimuli. There are more dramatic moments like falling in love (of course), but even before the fall, that first date presence when you know it’s good, like really good. Maybe you even did some mushrooms once and you just sat in the grass and knew you were good, no worries, no other moment but this. But arriving in a permanent way - no, not yet at least. Not for me. I sell out a show of mine, something I’ve been working on for years and I’m mentally thinking how this is just a step to what is next. To be honest - I started this Substack as an exploration step to my next book. I am often caught in this “what’s next?” cycle…. This place where everything is a step to something else. This has traditionally been my struggle with relationships and partnership - because it’s not a step, and it shouldn’t be a step to the next thing - it is the thing itself. In partnership (any sort of partnership / relationship) all the other person wants from you is to arrive and be present. Admit it - that’s what we want from them as well. Engaged Liberation is you-supported. Support me :)And so, Arriving is my work here. The great work for which all other work is merely preparation. And that sometimes means arriving into my discomfort. I just had a birthday and I was not feeling good about myself. I was trying to find blame in others for why I felt so uneasy with my life. I was blaming Hollywood, where I lived, at times my partner, my co-workers, my agents, myself - you name it - something was always the problem - and so change needed to happen.But in chatting with my mama, I was reminded that it so much easier to run away from things rather than to engage with them. And how so often that is what I do - like the time I was in this relationship and instead of telling the woman that I was seeing that I was done, instead of that, I almost took a job in Abu Dhabi to become a live game show host for Ferrari World - true story. Thank god, universe, and all the spirits I did not take that job - word on the inside is that it was a disaster. Anyway, my mama said, “Before you go looking for something else. Arrive here first.”And so, I try to keep arriving. To stop blaming others or looking for excuses and stories that might make this moment better. This arriving is so freeing. Feels good. Peaceful. Even if their is pain in your life, pain in this moment, I believe their is liberation in arriving… and from there we can see and allow and create what is next.  If you love Engaged Liberation, find some medicine and love here, consider buying me a coffee and/or supporting me here for just $2.75 / $3.35 / $5 a month! Also - now’s a perfect time to buy a copy of Brown Enough in Paperback (one for you, one for the homie, one for the neighborhood library) and listen to the Podcast, Season 3 dropping October 22nd! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

The majority of them are pointless, not true, and not even tangible. 40-60 thousand thoughts in a day, give or take. If we were to give equal weight to each one of those thoughts, we wouldn’t be able to function, and so, our brain focuses on the scariest ones to keep us “safe.”Now “safe” - for the most part, for most people in todays society, “safe” has evolved past the lion in the trees, or the immediate fear of physical harm (of course, there are millions currently facing genocide and who are seeking primal “safety” - a prayer for our troubled times). But for the majority of us, what we focus deeply on is the one thing that went wrong - like, if you got a 99 on a test, you will likely always remember the one question you missed - “Adriatic Sea, not mediterranean - idiot!” Or we focus (obsess) on the one thing we don’t want to happen. They say depression is a harboring on the past and anxiety is a harboring in the future. I don’t have to be the person who tells you to be present - you already know it. It’s what you’re seeking with pretty much every action you take- some sort of arrival into presence. So, for us over thinkers who obsess on what happened or might happen, how do we find relief? For me, when in the rut of think think think, what nourishes and stills my mind is some wisdom I got from a beautiful holy man in life. He says, “When we think and think it’s because we don’t trust. We don’t trust ourselves, we don’t trust our gods (whichever ones serve you or we serve).”This lack of trust is our lack of safety. We want to control. And control is in direct conflict with trust. With allowance, with ease.When I’m trapped in thinking I remind myself how much I am not trusting and how desperately I am controlling. This reminder usually brings ease and spaciousness to the moment. That spaciousness is where peace begins. xoEngaged Liberation is a reader-supported labor of love. If you appreciate the time and love, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

Kevin and I chat the art of curation, art for art sakes, having a healthy relationship to dying, what ancestral wisdom can teach us about getting free, and the medicine of not editing your life, but living it. Kevin Becerra is a dear friend, an artistic genius, and a creative producer who I have been fortunate enough to collaborate with and learn from. Enjoy y’all. xoEngaged Liberation is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

You know the story: Yesterday they were on a jet talking self-care, and also about what a bad b***h they were. They used a fun filter and everything. They told their fans to care about themselves and each other, but also to use goop sun screen (not a sponsored post, I swear).Today they found them unresponsive, ODed on… it doesn’t really matter what.All we know is that they finally had enough.And now what?What’s the family going through? I hope the fans don’t follow suite.I don’t know what it feels like to suffer like you - but - also - yes -We know it’s not just famous influencers that struggle to share their truth.That there is a disconnect between little boxes for public consumption and what we whisper to ourselves late at night and early in the morning or anytime when we aren’t distracted.We’re like little pieces of yarn that get wound up, wound and wound, tight, until we can’t see anymore.But we don’t know we’re wound or maybe we do. Maybe we think it’s normal to feel like this.So we keep going. We keep posting. We keep manifesting. We keep reading self-help books while communal health melts around us. We keep flying - another Icarus that just didn’t know better.I think if we were to begin to sit with ourselves more. Not run from those scary thoughts. Not need to produce content more than we need to be content. If we chose ourselves, liked ourselves, stopped running from ourselves we might find some space to turn these habits over-And all of a suddenly the yarn comes loose.A chord that unties to discover the day with open eyes. Or, a chord that opens us, feels like home.We remember to be children of time. To run alongside the endless seconds because they will still be there when we are not. Because we had good ancestors. Even in all this s**t we had some good ancestors along with the lost ones. And we get to be good ancestors too. Rested ancestors. Peaceful ancestors.Because if we are peace, the world is peace. If we rest, we help them rest.That's why we have to live our own lives, not lives made of content for people you don’t really know and who will never make you the center of their life, they will never make you the main character in their story - because it’s their story.This overwhelming feeling of our time is that we are missing something. Sleepless and anxious, because we are missing something. It’s our actual life. We’re missing this moment. This life. This breath. It’s all behind us or ahead of us, but it’s not here.We have to make space for it just as windows stay open to welcome the sun.Ask yourself, WHAT’S THE END GOAL?Ask yourself, how many times have I passed on spending time with loved ones, or doing something I want to do, under the guise of ‘working harder’ to spend more quality time and do things I love with people I love in the distant future, after I’ve gotten to that proverbial finish line? Here’s an invitation: Turn your work ethic into a bed, and make your arms and legs branches. Arrive.Remember that many of the things you’re working so hard for are already here. Watch clouds break and wind blow. Open your mouth and let the snow melt on your tongue.Feel the world. Feel its pain, its beauty. Feel the currents, the overflow.You thought you were alone. You’re not.You’re among those who dared and wanted and tried and loved and needed and rested and prayed and forgave and kissed and made love and regretted and just wanted what we all want - LIBERATION.To go to bed in peace and wake up in peace.To be both the sun and the moon and the earth and the stars and the clouds and the paper and the pirate and the refuge. All of it. All of us. All the time. Like surfing. You gotta listen and you have to be patient. Catch the wave with everything that you are.Say to yourself, “I was what I was, I am what I will be, the future is in this breath, an ever-unfolding practice of right now. I have arrived.”Start here. “Even if I don't want to, I am ready, I have arrived.”You can still get to the places you want to go. But first you must arrive. Start here. Leave no stone unturned. Don’t be afraid of the dirt. So, you fell apart last night. That’s okay. Start here. Set yourself free.This is life coming into harmony with reality.Start here.Stop chasing what you already have.xoEngaged Liberation is free for all readers. It is a labor of love, but it is labor. If you appreciate the time and love that has gone into this, please consider becoming a paid subscriber: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

Odalys Jasmine is the creator / host of Hella Latina - a community for hella dope Latinas, Latinos, Latine, Latinx and beyond. We chat about this insane summer heat, the power of heat and building, amplifying and aligning with authentic and dope individuals (just like yourselves) - Enjoy!xo This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

I got to chat with Christine Olivia, the author of, Remember Your Roots, A Child of Magic, and many other children’s books. She is a cacao ceremonialist and a Mayan Spiritual Guide initiate. She focuses on ancestral healing, supporting body, mind, and soul connection. She also supports the creation and development of Indigenous cacao farms and women’s c… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

Arshiya Kherani is my brilliant friend, a serial entrepreneur, a change maker, and a truly beautiful soul. We both share this deep love and understanding of personal story, and how powerful it is, how telling ones story can heal, not only self, but community, while simultaneously building and strengthening community. It’s this love of story that led her to be one of the founders of PotLuck Stories - a series of live events that are so much fun, all about community and story. Enjoy xo This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

This is one of my absolute favorite conversation on Liberation. Jorge embodies and own his liberation proudly. Jorge R. Gutierrez is a brilliant storyteller and artist, Emmy winner, filmmaker, and overall well of wisdom and genius. I have known him for a minute, but it was this quote on his inspiring twitter that made me reach out for a convo, “After Bo… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

In other words, what’s gonna happen is gonna happen regardless of whether we are anxious about it or not. Like death, what’s coming is coming. I’m not saying ignore it, or just put it off in the back of your mind and say, I’ll consider that later. No, consider it now. But, why get anxious about it? Why not open your heart to it, let it in, let this moment in. Letting it in, opening our hearts to all of it - is going to enable us to actually receive this moment and not defend ourselves all the time. We waste a lot of time and energy in anxiousness. Which is really just some sort of self-defense from a future full of things we can not control (aka, nothing, there is nothing that is truly in our control). Anxiety is the illness of our time, and it comes primarily from our inability to live in the present moment, and our need to control things. Today’s Liberation is free for all, but it didn’t write itself. If you’re enjoying these posts & find value in their information, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.I understand why we’re anxious - capitalism, war, rent, forever chemicals in our water, climate, student loans…. I get it, but also, our tension around these things will not serve us or the issues that need our spacious loving attention. I believe that if we can carry less anxiety, less tension, then we can have more spaciousness to respond creatively and more compassionately to the moment, to whatever this moment needs. We would have more spaciousness to be able to face what is and not need to turn away. More spaciousness to be moved to action, not simply moved to habits that protect us and keep us “safe.” A life without anxiety or fear may seem like an impossible dream, but it is possible, and it is also within our grasp. We can, through the practice of awareness and liberation, find spaciousness from the grip of anxiety, anger, and despair. And from that place, that calm, loving, spacious, even peaceful place, may we all take loving action. Engaged Liberation is a labor of love. But it is labor. If you love it, consider supporting it financially. For $5/mo, you’ll gain access to weekly group meetings, as well as full access to the Engaged Liberation podcast. Thank you!Thank you for reading Engaged Liberation. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

But we love the drag, we love the human costume. We think it’s the peak physical experience, s**t, we think it’s the peak experience experience. We think it’s what we are. We fall into our characters, costumes and roles so deeply that we get stuck in them. We make internet bios and wikipedia pages dedicated to our characters. “Chris does this, is this, doesn’t do this, loves this, hates this, has these traumas, is this productive, has these routines…” Our battle for liberation on this physical plane is in our obsession with trying to be solid when in fact we are mush. We try and become secure in our characters, in the performance of “me” by any means necessary. But we are not these fixed beings, we’re not a box or category that we try and fit ourselves into. We’re just giant balls of mush.Formless and expansive, capable of much more than we can even convince of. Mush - one moment this and the next moment that. Much more spacious than any label or instagram bio can ever contain. Physics says that you can never actually touch anything. What!? If you're reading this right now, it's a sure bet that you’re touching something, your cellphone, laptop, chair, desk, a nice plush bed with high thread count (we can dream, right?) - but you aren't actually touching it.Everything you can see, touch, and "feel" is made up of infinitesimally small parts of matter. Even objects that appear to be stationary (including you) are in fact vibrating mush. Oscillating and resonating, billions of particles vibrating so fast we think we’re one solid thing, but we’re not. Microscopically, all sorts of strange things are going on within us that aren't perceivable to the human eye… We aren’t meant to be this solid, composed, single fixed identity, feeling and mindset thing - we are mush, we are gods in drag - so much more than any one thing we tell ourselves we are. We can feel so much more, love so much more, have so much more gratitude. But it’s hard to be mush, hard to be this vibrating full of potential thing, the character feels a lot safer, I’ve rehearsed it a lot more.Today’s Liberation is free for all, but it didn’t write itself. If you’re enjoying these posts & find value in their information, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.I think liberation lies in the mush, the place beyond the story about who we are, and what we are, and what we should be or do. In order to find this place, Zen practitioners will use the famous koan, “What is your original face?”It is a koan (a paradoxical anecdote or riddle, used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and to provoke enlightenment) used to drop the stories and structures we believe as “self” and enter into a connection with ultimate existence.In her 1974 essay 'Seeing,’ Annie Dillard writes about the experiences of a group of people blind from birth who recovered their sight after cataract operations in the nineteenth century. Their brains hadn't ever learned how to make sense of visual information and so for a time they saw the world unprocessed and unsorted. They saw mush - a depthless dazzle of color patches, some bright and some so black they looked like holes. Trees glowed like flames. And each person had a wildly unique face.If only someone had given them brushes, Dillard writes, “then maybe we all could see color-patches too, the world unraveled from reason.” The world as expansive mush.xoThank you for reading Engaged Liberation. This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

This week I got to chat Liberation with the one and only Liz Plank… Co-host of the Man Enough podcast, author of For The Love of Men, and the brilliant voice and thinker behind Airplane Mode (a must subscribe)!Enjoy! xo This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

Om is a beautiful and brilliant friend and Ayurvedic Chef based in Los Angeles. We are often found climbing together for hours (he’s a spider monkey) and chatting Liberation, so it felt fitting to share some of his wisdom with y’all. Enjoy. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

Anytime I am able to chat with Paula, it is a good day. Paula is the founder of EMPRESS, a community-building agency dedicated to leveraging the power of culture to create a meaningful impact & build stronger communities! And she does leave meaningful impact and build community. I’ve felt it personally. She threw the greatest concert I have ever been too - life changing. Enjoy her genius. xoEngaged Liberation is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

Reta and I chat healing, surrender, and how all of it is sacred- all of it!Reta Moretti is the founder of Sacred Sisters and Creatrix Coaching. A certified life coach, yoga and meditation instructor, Reta seamlessly blends these modalities to guide individuals on transformative journeys to create a holistic approach to personal empowerment, connection to Self and connection to Mother Nature. Her expertise extends to community building, social media management, retreat planning, and spiritual entrepreneurship.Through her women’s collective, Sacred Sisters, Reta is devoted to fostering a sense of deep, loving sisterhood among women, by providing a space for healing the wounds and dispelling the notions that pit women against each other as competitors. She is dedicated to guiding women on a path of inner knowing, empowerment and self discovery.Engaged Liberation is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

A in-process showing from Act II of, Rough Magic, an Operatic RitualThe transcript:Again, you have to be logical. You know, if I know in this hotel room, they have food every day and I'm knocking on the door every day to eat and… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

Engaged Liberation is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.The world comes to you.But also, the world also comes from you. What?Think of it like this - when you’re in a rush, everybody is moving to slow. Everybody is in your way.When you just got great news, all the hard work paid off, you got that second date or got that raise, then suddenly everybody is a blessing, everyone is moving at exactly the right pace. Plainly put - our internal world reflects our outer world.When we feel good, the world is good.When we feel bad, the world is bad.Chaos breeds chaos, peace breeds peace.Our relationship to the outer world is often our inner world.So, if I want Liberation to come to me, I ask, how does it look and feel for Liberation to come from me?The action doesn’t matter as much as the state with which the action is bred from. If you are in peace, then every action is a peaceful action. If you are love, every action has a chance to be a holy and loving action. If you are full of resentment and hate and anger and the idea of being overlooked, or like there isn’t enough room for them and me, then you get this - - - this current world full of war, delusion, oppression, violence, extremism.The world comes to you. But also, the world also comes from you. And so I ask you:What world do you want to come to you?What world do you want to come from you? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

Awatif and I chat Design Thinking (Empathy is step 1), internal vs external revolutions, how she called me out for not speaking up about genocide, and whether sharing on social media actually has any benefit. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

There is a force and calling that compels me to keep creating, making, and sharing my art and my heart. Kafka calls this force “the indestructible.” It is a thing that so badly wants to show you who you are - but you must make the space to hear it and have the courage to follow it. Kafka says, that if you disobey it, it will tear you apart.Engaged Liberation is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.And so, in not wanting to be torn apart, I listen to that force. I let it motivate and guide me. It pours out of me as a dedication and vow, in all my words written here, in all the art I make, in my breath, and hopefully in my actions - and I imbue each fragment of that force with a prayer of liberation. Dedicated to you. To you near and you far away. I pray that all the fighting among this planet may immediately come to an end. I pray that the many dangers afflicting humankind may be pacified quickly. I pray that every living being, without exception, can experience peace. I pray that the expansiveness and peace that comes with the practices of Engaged Liberation flourish throughout the world so that all may be liberated from suffering. This is my dedication. What is yours? What is your motivation? What is your wish? Please share it with us, and thank you. xoIf you love Engaged Liberation, find some medicine and love here, consider buying me a coffee and/or supporting for just $2.75 / $3.35 / $5 a month! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit christopherrivas.substack.comIn this inaugural episode of the Engaged Liberation podcast on Substack, Megan and I talk about how annoying the question, “How are you?” is and so much more! I couldn’t be more honored to chat with her and to share this with y’all.You can find more of her amazing work, book, and brilliant meditations at her website meganmonahan.comEnjoy! Love & Liberat…

If you got dust in your eye you would take it out immediately. You wouldn’t say, “Oh, I’ll get to that later.” “I’m gonna get this thing out of my eye when I get home.” No, you’d get it out now. Right now. You’d stop whatever you were doing to see clearly. And that’s how we get to treat anything that is keeping us wound up and bound. That’s how we get to treat anything keeping us from liberation. Harmful or negative thoughts, we get to recognize them and care for them immediately - like dust in the eye. Harmful actions, toxic habits, old stories, painful stories, we get to give them our our immediate attention. Like dust in the eye.And yet, we often walk around with dust in our eye. Either ignoring it, or hoping it it’ll just pass. Maybe telling ourselves that we’ll get to it later. Later may never arrive, and this whole time we couldn’t actually see clearly. And so, is there any dust sitting in your eye, that deserves your immediate attention? What beauty and medicine and peace have we missed because of dust in our eye? If you love Engaged Liberation, find some medicine and love here, consider buying me a coffee and/or supporting me here for just $2.75 / $3.35 / $5 a month! Also - now’s a perfect time to buy a copy of Brown Enough in Paperback (one for you, one for the homie, one for the neighborhood library) and listen to the Podcast, Season 3 dropping October 22nd!Engaged Liberation is reader Supported. Support me :) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

A life dedicated to liberation can take on many different forms. It really depends on the circumstances of the day. Sometimes liberation will look like needing to love more, yourself, or someone else. Sometimes it will require listening more or actually listening. Beginner's mind listening. Sometimes it will require turning off your phone - actually turning it off off, not airplane mode. Sometimes it will require a nap and doing less. Sometimes it requires the dedication of doing more, much more. The practice and perseverance of right action. Sometimes it requires me to be still.  Sometimes it will require me to speak up. Liberation dictates from us what it needs in the moment. I let liberation permeate me, overcome me, overwhelm me, and then direct me. That’s liberation in action.If you find medicine here, buy me a coffee and/or support me for just $3.75!& buy a copy of Brown Enough (one for you, one for the homie, one for the neighborhood library) and listen to Season 3 of the podcast! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe

“The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence… It destroys our own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.” - Thomas MertonI spent this past summer in Kansas City, performing the role of Christian, in a production of Cyrano De Bergerac. The play was fine, it was for mainly old white people and such is the state of regional theater these days - different essay for a different time. But the real highlight of my time there was what lived across the street from my airbnb. The stunning Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and their incredible grounds, and yummy coffee shop. Everyday before rehearsal, and every night when I got home I would walk these beautiful grounds. I would roam through the sculptures, take in the flowers, and bathe in the moon. At the center of these grounds (not geographically, I’m sure there was something more center center, but spiritually, for me at least) was the magnificent Rodin’s, The Thinker. Maybe you’ve seen it? A giant man so intensely stressed by whatever he’s thinking about, that he’s curled into a ball, even his toes are curled and gnarled because he’s thinking so much. Hunched over, his shoulders rounded into his chest, neck and fingers bent, chasing after some thought or idea… Every day I would walk by this sculpture, and every day I would whisper to myself, “That’s me. I’m The Thinker.”It didn’t help that when my mom came to visit she too said, “That’s you,” with a freaky air of excitement. Like, a sculpture actually made her understand her offspring better.“I know Ma, I know. That’s me. I know.”Often so caught and knotted up in my thoughts I’m unable to break free. That’s me.I struggle to relax y’all. I struggle to relax on vacation, at home, in traffic, making love, you name it - it’s hard for me to relax. I’m more often the thinker than not, but I’m also the person who has been blessed with the gift of dharma, meditation, and enough loving and liberated people in my community who remind me in action or words to “fall back” (on top of the fact that these words are tattooed on my right wrist, just above where I wear my watch, because peace of mind is more important than the time). Fall back, sit tall, breathe deep, rest, enjoy this moment, chill. It’s not all that serious. The thing I’m most often wound up tight about is ME. Self-cherishing is most often my main source of suffering.Yes, me. When wound up tight like a little ball with all my thinking, me, myself, and I are like my own personal devotional deity. I call it Selfing. There is taking a selfie and then there is selfing. Selfing sucks. It’s me me me, all the time me. Thinking and over thinking, “This is me, this what I want, this is what I don’t want, this is what I wish were not this.” Me, trying to solve something, me at the center of my thoughts and so I curl into a little ball of stress and scrunch my toes and think obsessively like Rodin’s, The Thinker. When I think of liberation, I think of The Thinker relaxing and sitting up tall. I think of his gnarled toes letting go and unclenching. His wrinkled forehead, curled fingers, and tight shoulders opening up. I see him getting up off his mantle and lying down in the grass - there is so much grass at The Nelson-Atkins to surrender to, to let go, to lay down and simply rest. No longer needing to chase some thought, no longer needing to get it right or to figure out the next thing to do. To think less about me is to expand, is to soften, it happens almost instantly. Like a clenched fist opening. Like a bodybuilder who takes the last week off to rest before a big show. Like a performer who lets go of all the hard work, practice, rehearsal and preparation, allowing the magic to take place. Like that moment when you remember you haven’t been breathing, and so you breathe. (Did you just remember to breathe!?) How did I forget to breathe!?In that softening, my perspective starts to expand. Suddenly I can take in others. Only when I relax can I bear witness to others. Bear witness to their suffering and to their beauty, to their genius. There’s no better way to get out of my ‘me-cage’ than to truly bear witness to another person, to let them into my heart, my life. When we take ourselves out of the picture all that is left is everything.Softening expands my vision. My heart expands. Softening has the ability to settle the dust. In a softened state, my obsessions and obsessive thoughts relax. The liberation I speak about, the one we all desire (whether we have named it or not), can only be accessed first and foremost through softening. Not clinging, not effort, not trying harder, not grasping.It’s like falling from the top of a tree to come crashing down to the ground below. We have no idea how many branches we’ve passed on the way down. The Thinker will replay this incident over and over again, constantly falling from the tree, over and over again.The practice of liberation says, you fell once, that was enough. You don’t have to fall from the same damn tree over and over again. You get to stop. You get to be free. You get to lie down. Want to know the best part - The Thinker doesn’t have to become a different person. The thinker doesn’t have to transform or change into someone else. The thinker already is. I already am. You already are. We have all the tools necessary to open up, unwind, sit tall, self-cherish less, soften, and do nothing.And yes, for sure, making room for a new habit, even a highly desired one is a challenge. Taking off the human drag that thinks way too much about itself is hard at times, it's all we know. We think our stress level at 150% is normal until we realize it’s not. We get so used to conducting our lives this way, we’re not even aware of our discomfort, until we have a moment of rest, until we feel our toes uncurl and let go.None of this is meant to be heavy, or meant to be figured out by analysis. It’s meant to be practiced, firsthand, meant to be lived. See what happens when you take a deep full breath and relax your shoulders, see how your jaw releases, how you uncurl your gripping hands, and you stop scrunching your toes. When you think less, your perspective and your imagination widen. You see the world more, the world sees you more. When you infuse generosity and compassion into your way of seeing and being in the world maybe the heart can release more too. Inviting more care into our lives. It’s said that liberation is an accident, and when we keep practicing, when we keep softening, we become more and more accident prone. All of this and more, is possible when we’re not so scrunched over with thinking and selfing. If you love Engaged Liberation, find some medicine and love here, consider buying me a coffee!And or supporting for just $2.75 / $3.35 / or $5 a month! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christopherrivas.substack.com/subscribe