Yesterday while riding my bicycle from my home to my co-intern’s house to ride together to the prison for Art and Spirituality, I got into a minor accident on the ice that invisibly coated the side of the road I was traveling on. It was not until my rear wheel began slipping that I noticed the sunlight reflecting off of the patch of ice that was directly under me. As my bike slid out from under me and I slammed onto the pavement, I had a brief moment of uncertainty about how bad the accident actually was. In the moments that mark the climax of a crisis it seems as if my rational thinking goes out the window along with my normal sensory experiencing. Then, as quickly as it happened, the wave of feelings and fear come flooding back in like a tidal wave. Yesterday, I didn’t know if I was going to look down and see blood as I stood up and grabbed the frame of my bicycle. Luckily, I suffered no major injuries other than a potentially sprained wrist, and I was able to get back on my trusty steed and ride away fairly unscathed.

Often when I am involved in some kind of accident like the unfortunate one yesterday on my bicycle, I like to take some time to reflect on the metaphors that it can offer me that might guide or influence my daily reality. When I think about the ice that was my culprit yesterday, I think about how at times it is as I am slipping in a conversation or an interaction that I see how I could have avoided the slip altogether. But, the slip was critical because it provided the hindsight. Having just returned from a week-long workshop centered on diversity and social justice, I had the opportunity often throughout the week to see where I was slipping through feedback from other group members. There were times when, in an effort to get off my chest what was alive in me to share, I did not proceed with my sharing with much sensitivity or appropriate language pertaining to a certain group. Through the process of what I refer to as being “called in” rather than being “called out” by other folks in the group, I was made cognizant of how my specific language was being received by the others. I got to see where the metaphoric ice was located so that I could maneuver with greater intentionality next time around.

Although there are certainly manifold ways of integrating new information into my thinking in an effort to understand the breadth of an issue, I do not believe that for me there is anything quite like the type of learning that comes from the metaphoric ice. These moments so distinctly crystallize information for me and create such a long lasting impression. So, here’s to the learning! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go put ice on my wrist.

– Liana