When we think of colonialism, many of us automatically think of racism. Yet colonialism produced far more than racial hierarchies. It created countless ways of othering human beings and human ontologies into categories: civilised and uncivilised, normal and abnormal, rational and irrational, worthy and unworthy.

At the heart of all these systems is the same pattern: a dominant group deciding that difference is dangerous.

Difference becomes evidence of inferiority. A justification for exclusion. A reason to say:

You do not belong with us.

And of course, belonging matters.

Human beings are wired for it. For most of our history, survival depended on remaining part of the group. Belonging brought protection, validation, love, and safety.

It is why so many of us learn to hide the parts of ourselves that make us different.

We play it safe.

We shrink.

We adapt ourselves to fit the expectations of others.

For women, this pressure is often even stronger. We are taught—directly and indirectly—that safety comes through acceptance. That being liked is safer than being rejected. That conformity is safer than visibility.

And I would argue that this pressure is intensified for the modern witch: a loose and open term I am using to describe the deeply spiritual woman who wants to share her gifts, intuition, healing, and esoteric wisdom with the world- a woman like me.

Somewhere in our bodies, we remember.

You’re weird.

You’re dangerous.

You’re delusional.

Stay away.

I know my body epigenetically remembers these words….

The persecution of women accused of witchcraft forms part of Europe’s collective memory, where I was born.

The forced conversion of Yoruba spiritual traditions forms part of my ancestral DNA. My grandfather was born into that lineage.

The systematic erasure of Indigenous ways of knowing reinforces my loss- my grandmother’s great-grandfather belonged to an Indigenous tribe, yet so much of that knowledge and lineage is now difficult to recover.

Whether these memories are historical, ancestral, cultural, or energetic, their message is the same:

Be careful.

Do not stand out.

Do not reveal too much.

Death haunts the modern witch.

In the past it was physical death, in 2026 it’s often social death:

Rejection.

Ridicule.

Exile.

Trolling

The ghosts of the past haunt our subconscious.

That’s why so many spiritual women find ourselves looking at who we are through the coloniser’s lens: judging our difference before anyone else has the chance to.

Silencing ourselves before we are silenced.

Rejecting ourselves before we are rejected.

We hide ourselves away from family, friends and the world, even though the world is in desperate need of our magic

What would happen if we looked at ourselves through the lens of power ?

What would happen if we saw our differences not as flaws to be corrected, but as truths to be expressed?

That is what decolonisation really means for me: forming new relationships with ourselves

https://youtu.be/mw73QABWUlI?is=t9SKrsObXdEyyukz

There is so much emphasis on ‘dismantling external systems’ versus the internal:

Refusing to see yourself through the eyes of those who fear difference.

Refusing to inherit their judgments.

By expressing yourself fully, you do more than liberate yourself.

You give others permission to do the same.

You show another spiritual woman that visibility is possible.

You show your younger self that hiding is no longer necessary.

You show your ancestors that the story did not end with fear.

Every act of self-expression weakens the belief that difference must be punished.

Every act of visibility expands what is possible for someone else.

So if you are reading this and you have spent years hiding parts of yourself, I want you to know something:

There are people waiting to meet the real you.

But they cannot find you if you remain hidden.

Show the world who you are.

Not because everyone will understand.

Not because everyone will approve.

But because your truth was never meant to stay buried.

every time someone chooses authenticity over fear, a little more power returns to the people it was taken from.

My name is Naomi, I am a Healer, A Thinker, a Founder of DIE4ART and I am becoming much more openly visible about my spiritual beliefs and practices.

https://youtu.be/IV8pQdCQP2s?is=oiNDGfb6hFKZDEYZ

I won’t pretend it has been easy.

Many times it feels heavy. I have been misunderstood, judged, and rejected for it.

Yet every time I choose visibility over hiding,

something heals.

Not only within me, but within the younger version of myself who learned that certain parts of her were safer kept hidden. In some ways, it also feels like healing for the women who came before me.

This work has become part of my purpose: helping women trust themselves, express themselves, and reclaim the freedom that comes from being fully seen

If this essay resonated with you, and you feel called to explore your own path in a deeper way, I would be honoured to support you

The World needs more spiritually gifted women standing in their truth, knowledge and power ⚡️

“Values conflict.”

That was the cancellation reason.

I received it less than five minutes before I was due to hop on a discovery call with a potential client.

Side note: “hop on a discovery call” is such a funny phrase when you think about it. ses that’s meant to sound easy and breezy. Like we’re just two rabbits frolicking through a meadow of possibility. 🐰

When really what it means is: one person is about to be vulnerable: to market themselves and ask another person to not only believe in them but to pay them .

I don’t care how much inner work you’ve done.

Opening yourself up to potential rejection will never not be uncomfortable for the average human whose DNA is literally primed for connection and community.

Our nervous systems still interpret rejection as exile.

And exile once meant death.

We as a society also hate asking for money and hate selling ourselves- especially women where it can come across as negative, salesy, doing the most etc etc etc

Which is why i have had to do so much inner work to even suggest ‘hopping on a discovery call’ with prospective clients, and why , reading “values conflict” did sting.

That’s the sort of thing I would say to someone who told me they were pro Isreal - not in response to a Black woman helping other women reconnect to their power.

But here’s why their value may have conflicted: by the way I help women…

I help women create lives that feel deeply aligned. Women, particularly women of colour, who are tired of shrinking themselves and ready to step into more.

Part of that work is strategy.

Part of it is accountability.

Part of it is creative execution.

But the biggest part is using my clairsentience, ancestral wisdom and gifts that many people could label as “scary.” Or “weird”

Which is fine.

The older I get, the more I realise that being too much for the wrong people is often exactly enough for the right ones.

Or in the words of Jwaydan

“If you are a woman of depth, then recognise as soon as you open your mouth or share your thoughts you become an immense trigger to most others.

Most humans have the depth capacity of a murky-pond. Truly. Suitable for a toad, not a great whale.

Like her and other gifted spiritual women

[…] people can’t deal with the tsunami of power I hold….

So I have to titrate and offer everything in bite sized pieces. And even then, I’m “too much”…….

You will always be rejected by someone, and like I said earlier humans can never  overcome the feeling of rejection.

You can however, get faster at moving through it. Not everyday - a woman’s body does not operate like a male clock. Emotions can be easier and harder to unpack depending on my menstrual and moon cycle…

Today though it was a lot easier to consciously rewrite my thinking

Today I was standing  in an identity that believed that everything was working out.

Even when it didn’t  like it

And this new version of me said an interesting things on my dog walk today…

The dog walk

You’ve heard of : “God/ your  ancestors were protecting you.”

But have you heard :

Maybe their ancestors were protecting them from me?

That’s the message that came to me as I continue to gently unpack the sting of rejection as I was walking my dog Cocito

It felt empowering .

It felt dark

Not in an evil way but in a dark feminine way: raw, unapologetic power. The type of female energy that can not just birth but destruction like the goddess Kali brings

The type of power that demands you to unapologetically shake rooms and never beg for other forgiveness or acceptance

Not every women can handle this; to break the archetype of the respectable woman, the nice woman, the always plays by the rules women…

When things doesn’t work out, we automatically position ourselves as the one who lost something.

Something was taken from us.

An opportunity.

A relationship.

A client.

A dream.

But what if it wasn’t taken from me?

What if it was taken from them?

What if their ancestors looked down and said:

“Absolutely not. She is going to shake up your entire reality and you’re not ready for that yet. You are not ready to step into a new identity where you unashamedly release your energy and essence into the world and dont care who and who doesn’t get it … that would take too much breaking… too much destruction … too much power “

If you’re the woman reading this and instead of feeling intimidated you felt activated…

Then perhaps your ancestors aren’t protecting you from me.

Perhaps they led you to my work… to this video below 👁️

https://youtu.be/IV8pQdCQP2s?si=TWsSs5aVn1mC2N-9

I wanted to visually share the first opening 5–10 minutes of my workshop: Decolonising Imagination: Rebuilding the World With Child Within, which is now just 4 weeks away.

https://canva.link/kt9m69ai8qd54xr and/or see the attached photos :)

I feel deeply passionate about making this knowledge accessible to as many people as possible, especially knowledge that has the power to shatter the illusions that keep so many negatively spellbound and disconnected from their own sovereignty.

What I am sharing publicly, under a Creative Commons license, is only the threshold. The rest of the workshop: the practices, transmissions, and experiential activations designed to induce an entirely new state of mental clarity, creative flow, and expanded perception, and of course, meeting and forming a new relationship with the gorgeous global community who have already secured a ticket ,must remain within the sacred container of the live experience.

Why?

To honour the integrity, reverence and potency of my work, some wisdom, especially channelled ancestral wisdom, is meant to be encountered, embodied, and exchanged through a relationship of mutual reciprocity. 

If this introduction left you visually and cognitively woke you up

 challenged your current worldview with new information, or stirred emotions that felt unexpected, consider that as confirmation that certain doors can only be opened from within the room itself-  join me personally on 4th July to be part of the full 90-minute experience and step beyond what you think is possible or ‘realistic’

Secure one of the final tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/decolonising-imagination-rebuilding-the-world-with-the-child-within-tickets-1990341552161

There are now only 2 Early Bird tickets remaining.

Have a nice evening,

Naomi x

“I am creating a workshop called Decolonising Our Imagination: Rebuilding the World With the Child Within: an online radical dreaming workshop exploring new decolonial possibilities for our lives and the lives of others. Highlighting that we are already living inside the coloniser's imagination. Now it is time to imagine and build new worlds beginning first from within. Yet this post made me pause especially because grief is seen as a 'negative' in western culture. In indegenous cosmologies grief is a lament for loss with the overstanding that things have to die to make way for something new. Perhaps it is more loss... as this post possibly suggests but... alchemising heavy emotions and viewing them not as bad but teachers and even weapons for the future, I'm thinking specifically about sacred rage and how that could catapult a revolution aka a new and reimagined future ... in other words grief can also build a new world. We don't need to bypass it we can use it as fuel”

Last few tickets left: 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/decolonising-imagination-rebuilding-the-world-with-the-child-within-tickets-1990341552161

Naomi 

DIE4ART BOOK CLUB 🖤

As an ex-librarian with a background in Global Black Studies, I’m especially drawn to conversations around:

🖤 Decolonised mental health

🖤 Decolonised social media & creative strategy

🖤 Decolonised entrepreneurship & mindset

🖤 Spirituality, Indigenous wisdom & alternative worldviews

Every month, I’ll share reflections on the books, resources, essays, and think pieces shaping how I think, create, heal, and build.

My book club represents a new type of library ; an intellectual salon, healing space‍  ‍& creative community  for people ready to question inherited narratives and imagine new possibilities. A curated space for curious minds exploring decolonial thought, healing, creativity, spirituality, and new ways of seeing the world.

join for free here:

https://www.die4artbynaomi.com/die4artbookclub

See you inside 🖤

These short-form platforms were quietly affecting my communication skills, attention span, and ability to think deeply. I found myself consuming more and creating less.

So I made a decision: to intentionally pour my creative energy, storytelling, and expression into long-form content : Substack and YouTube.

More importantly, I made a New Year’s resolution to regularly make time to read again. Building self-trust starts with following through on the commitments you make to yourself.My goal was simple: one book a month and I’m happy to say I’ve kept that promise to myself.

I’m currently reading The Healing Wisdom of Africa by Malidoma Patrice Some and next on my list is Yurugu: An African-centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior: African-Centered Critique by Marimba Ani

Reading again has been such a grounding experience. It feels like giving my mind permission to travel into a different dimension of peace, imagination, and deeper thinking.

I’ve noticed other positive changes too: my attention span, reasoning, creativity, storytelling, and expression feel sharper. And it’s showing up in my writing.

As a child and a teenager , I loved creative writing : I loved writing poetry, short stories and plays. Unfortunately, my experience of writing  at university and then when I ventured into academic publishing, forced me to comply with rigid conventions and  (colonial) writing styles that sucked all the joy out of writing for me

This year, though, I feel like I’m rediscovering that joy through writing  think pieces on Substack ;pieces that feel freer and more HUMAN than academic peer-reviewed articles, while still rooted in reflective learning, decolonial wisdom, and global curiosity

What are you currently reading ?

If you haven’t already, feel free to check out my latest Substack article which has been described as :

“ a thoughtful and deeply honest reflection on enoughness, performance, visibility and the stories we inherit about our worth. Naomi challenges the belief that we must constantly prove ourselves to deserve success, love, and belonging. If you're interested in psychology, self-inquiry, healing, and unlearning the systems that profit from our self-doubt, I highly recommend reading and subscribing to Naomi's work. Her insights are both provocative and profoundly human”

https://open.substack.com/pub/die4artbynaomi/p/decolonising-my-relationship-with-fa8?r=g8oxg&utm_medium=ios

Enjoy

🖤🌅

As Elena Vasileva writes in The Colonisation of Imagination:

"Imagination is often framed as something individual  something that belongs mainly to artists, writers or children. In reality, imagination is deeply social."

Everything around us was once someone's imagination. The clothes you're wearing. The device you're reading this on. The building you woke up in this morning. Every invention, institution, movement and technology began as an idea that someone dared to believe in before it existed.

So why do we need to decolonise our imagination?

Because our imagination is not as free as we think it is.

Many of us have absorbed stories about what is realistic, possible and desirable without ever questioning where those stories came from. From school systems that often reward conformity over creativity, to media cycles dominated by fear, crisis and scarcity, to the limiting beliefs we repeat to ourselves every day.

“The world will never change.

The economy is too bad to start a business.

Capitalism is here to stay.

I'm too old.

I'm too late.

I'm not qualified enough.”

What stories do you tell yourself?

We often call these stories "realistic", but realism is not a neutral term. It is shaped by our experiences, our culture and the limits of what we have previously seen. Something can feel unrealistic simply because it exists beyond our current imagination.

Yesterday, I picked up a copy of the Financial Times. Most of the paper focused on rising costs, struggling markets and economic uncertainty. Yet what caught my attention wasn't the negativity. It was the opportunities hidden between the headlines. AI companies focused on memory and storytelling technologies becoming trillion-dollar businesses. A retailer increasing profits by launching new product lines. Billions being invested in a moon mission. A resurgence in international tourism in China.

Many people read the same newspaper and came away with reasons to worry. I came away asking different questions:

What can I create?

What can I invest in?

What trends can I position myself around?

What future is trying to emerge here?

So for me, Decolonising the imagination first begins with learning how to notice possibility where others only see limitation.

Remember every future begins as an act of imagination.

Imagination, like any muscle, needs to be exercised. It needs space, encouragement and practice. Through storytelling, creativity, silence, reflection and community, we can begin to expand what we believe is possible for ourselves and for the world around us.

If this resonates with you, I invite you to join my online workshop on 4th July. Together we'll explore creative, reflective and Indigenous-informed practices that help us reclaim our imagination, challenge inherited limitations and expand our sense of what is possible for our personal and collective worlds

Reserve your place here : https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/decolonising-imagination-rebuilding-the-world-with-the-child-within-tickets-1990341552161

Talking about surviving, many of us are in survival mode due to current socio-economic, political systems. That’s why I would love to share with you my next workshop

Decolonising Our Imagination: Rebuilding the World With the Child Within

An online radical dreaming workshop exploring new decolonial possibilities for our lives and the lives of others.

We are already living inside the coloniser’s imagination. Now it is time to imagine and build new worlds — beginning first from within.

Facilitated by award-winning social entrepreneur Naomi L.A Smith, this deeply soulful session draws from creative wellness frameworks, storytelling practices, Indigenous spiritual traditions and Naomi’s award winning empowerment work that earned her recognition as a top 50 Women Voices of 2026 by Divas Of Colour, for consistent contributions to the empowerment of women

And nominated for the 2026 Community Leadership Award by Caribbean Global Awards (CGA). This distinguished recognition reflects the significance of my work, achievements, and contributions to excellence within my field, community, and the wider global Caribbean diaspora. 

This session will fiercely challenge the colonial, generational, and ancestral limiting beliefs that shape our understanding of what is “realistic.” As a group , we will ascend together and explore how capitalism and colonialism have narrowed our collective imagination, disconnecting us from our intuition, creativity, softness, and inner vision.

Through radical dreaming, reflection, and creative exercises, we will begin an internal process of rebirth and reimagining — envisioning new possibilities, structures, and systems not as escapism, but as necessary acts of resistance, healing, and creation.

This workshop is for anyone longing to reconnect with their creativity, intuition, and inner vision, and for those committed to social justice and creating a more equitable world. You do not need to identify as an artist to attend. You only need a willingness to feel, reflect, unlearn, and dream collectively.

Together, we will reconnect with the child within: the one who believed in magic, softness, transformation, and worlds beyond what we have been told is possible.

Bring paper and a pencil, or simply bring yourself. Come prepared to open up, reflect, imagine, and create personal and collective utopias. This is an invitation to return to the parts of yourself that once knew how to imagine freely before the world taught you to shrink your visions to fit systems built on fear, scarcity, and control.

Only 15 spaces available.

3 solidarity/bursary places are available for those who need them.

Saturday July 4th
11:11am – 1:11pm
Via Zoom

To get a taste of the session, read this Substack article:
https://open.substack.com/pub/enaeva/p/the-colonisation-of-imagination?r=g8oxg&utm_medium=ios

watch this YouTube video:
https://youtu.be/vciUmobRqyk?si=czzX2wP4jWAfJ7A0

And read reviews of my work / past workshops here : https://www.die4artbynaomi.com/die4artresults ; https://padlet.com/info33613/tell-me-what-you-think-pe3v31n930a9qi6f

See you soon

Naomi xx

🎟️ https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/decolonising-imagination-rebuilding-the-world-with-the-child-within-tickets-1990341552161

These were not the thoughts I expected to have whilst sitting in a David Lloyd café drinking a matcha after my workout, aesthetically resembling the kind of wellness lifestyle romanticised across Instagram.

Nor were they thoughts I expected after years of healing, therapy, spirituality, wellness and self-work.

Yet the thought hit me out of nowhere.

Sudden.
Strong.
Intense.
Overwhelming.
Completely unprovoked.

Where on earth had those thoughts come from?

I wanted to curl up in the corner and cry.

I didn’t though.

Instead, I calmly finished my drink, stood up and called the lift. Even though I had technically finished my workout, there was no way I could leave the gym feeling like this. I don’t pay all this money for my gym membership to leave feeling emotionally fucked.

So I went downstairs to the spa area and got into the pool.

Within minutes, something shifted.

As the water glided over my Piscean body, I felt an intense sense of bliss wash over me. Calmness. Relief. Peace. It was as if I had become a completely different person within the space of ten minutes.

The instant disappearance of those thoughts shocked me.

If my emotional state could change that quickly, what did that say about the validity of the thoughts themselves?

How many times had I viewed my life through dusty, dirty tinted glasses?

How many moments of hopelessness had actually been distorted perception?
How often had I mistaken temporary emotional states for objective truth?

Maybe there was never anything wrong with my life at all.

In fact, objectively speaking, my life is actually pretty good.

I have exited the matrix in many ways. I am building my own path, my own income streams, my own business. I have freedom that many people dream of. The fact that I started this story by mentioning David Lloyd already tells you something about my class privilege and positionality.

And yet none of those external realities protected me from suddenly feeling like my life was meaningless.

That frightened me.

But it also revealed something deeper.

Perhaps we are more psychologically and emotionally porous than we realise. Perhaps we absorb energies, anxieties and narratives that do not entirely belong to us. Perhaps social media, capitalism, burnout culture and hypervisibility create a kind of psychic noise that distorts our relationship with ourselves.

Because the speed at which those thoughts disappeared made me question every other moment I had felt inadequate.

Maybe I have been perceiving myself incorrectly for years.

Maybe I have always been enough….

So what led me to ever believe I wasn’t?

An inferiority complex was created in me as a child by the school I attended and the strange marking system it used in mock exams.

It meant that I was never top of the class, but never the bottom either. I was not completely “bad,” but I never quite felt “good enough” either.

Just mediocre.
Somewhere in the middle.
Hidden in alright-ness.

Not exceptional enough to be celebrated.
Not struggling enough to be helped.
Just invisible.

So I learned to work for validation.

To hustle.
To grind.
To shine.
To prove my worth.
To get noticed.
To be seen as exceptional.

This behaviour served me extremely well within colonial structures of work — systems that reward overperformance, exhaustion, hypervisibility and the constant need to prove your enoughness.

I became very good at being visible.

I attracted international attention not only to myself, but also to the institutions I once worked for. I actively sought out visibility, which meant going viral multiple times across social media platforms including LinkedIn and TikTok.

Visibility became a form of survival.
Achievement became a form of safety.
Performance became a form of self-worth.

However, colonial systems thrive on manufactured inadequacy.

They require us to believe we are perpetually unfinished:
not productive enough,
not intelligent enough,
not successful enough,
not attractive enough,
not healed enough.

Because people who believe they are already enough are far harder to exploit.

And I think many of us are exhausted because we have internalised the belief that our worth must constantly be performed.

Even rest becomes performative.
Healing becomes performative.
Softness becomes performative.
Authenticity becomes content.

We are encouraged to brand ourselves before we even know ourselves.

And now, as I strengthen my decolonial business and ground it more deeply in decolonial principles, I am realising that this version of me cannot come with me into the next chapter.

The overworking.
The overperforming.
The obsession with numbers.
The addiction to visibility.
The constant need to prove my credibility.

I do not need to overwork to deserve success.
I do not need to perform to receive my flowers.
I do not need to constantly prove my intelligence in order to deserve respect.

I can simply be.

And strangely enough, I am finding that the less I force, the more aligned things become.

Less posting.
Less chasing.
Less performing.
Less proving.
Less validation.

More flow.
More trust.
More peace.

Perhaps enoughness was never something I had to earn.

Perhaps enoughness existed before performance.
Before achievement.
Before algorithms.
Before capitalism.
Before coloniality.
Before the world taught me that love, visibility and success had to be deserved.

I was already enough before I learned to doubt myself.

You were too.

Are you truly LIVING?

Or are you dying in someone else’s world because you refuse to take a leap of faith and create your own?

visit www.die4artbynaomi.com if you are ready to stop repressing your yearnings and dreams🩶

This extract was taken from an article I co-wrote during my time as an academic librarian, when I was discussing the silence of institutions when confronted with injustice in workplaces, amongst colleagues, and throughout the wider world. In that context, silence reproduced coloniality.

However, in this Substack article, I want to explore silence through a different lens: introspection, distraction, and our collective discomfort with stillness

I want to share with you how your personal relationship with Silence can also be transformative.

According to Google: “Noise is defined as any unwanted, disruptive, or harmful sound.”

So why then do we reject silence?

Think about it. We are so hungry for noise: the noise of stimulation, the noise of devices, the noise of music, the noise of conversation… this is in contrast to eerie silence, or missing audio, which automatically feels like something is wrong or broken.

Silence can feel like non-presence, separation and aloneness. It can feel like affection is being withheld. Silence can feel permanent. It can feel like a prison where you cannot distract yourself from uncomfortable emotions.

Speaking about emotions, as someone with an anxious attachment style, constant communication equals certainty, whereas silence can feel like evidence that something is wrong. Of course, there’s a big difference between being ghosted and natural lulls in the rhythm of conversation, yet as someone who grew up around people who shut down emotionally when they were overwhelmed, people who stopped talking when conversations became too difficult, it’s hard for me not to feel threatened by silence.

However, this is what I’m trying to change.

To decolonise silence is to stop interpreting it solely through the lens of abandonment, punishment, productivity or lack.

Silence can also mean rest, peace, contemplation and space for growth. It reflects the duality of relationships and the duality of life itself.

In spirituality and esoteric wisdom, silence is essential. The need to retreat from others, turn inwards and return to silence, a place where power and Source reside, was part of many indigenous rituals and initiations. The temporary ‘lack’ of understanding before a lesson is fully integrated through ascension can itself be interpreted as a form of silence.

Colonial systems depend on noise. The stillness of nature was interrupted by the noise of industrialisation and constant output. Constant consumption. Constant explanation. Constant accessibility. Under capitalism especially, silence becomes suspicious because silence cannot always be monetised. Stillness interrupts production. Reflection interrupts obedience. Rest interrupts extraction.

We have been conditioned to associate worth with visibility and sound: post more, reply faster, speak louder, stay available. Silence asks us to exist without the world knowing we are.

Maybe that is another reason why Silence feels so uncomfortable.No algorithm. No immediate validation. Silence reveals what the noise of distractions were covering. It forces confrontation: with grief, longing, boredom, fear, memory, desire, intuition.

Silence is where truths become audible, and that is where some of the most profound shifts in our lives happen quietly: the moment we outgrow a version of ourselves by sitting with discomfort and our demons. The moment we finally feel at home within ourselves again because we’ve met ourselves again.

Silence is therefore not empty at all.

Silence is full of everything Colonialism has taught us to avoid.

Decolonising our relationship to silence means learning not to fear our own inner world. It means understanding that silence is not always absence; sometimes it is protection, incubation, listening, discernment, or sacred pause.

As a foetus, Silence was where we met ourselves before the world told us who we are. Perhaps then it’s time then to return back to a similar state and look at our relationship with Silence.

I saw this question on Substack

I have many times. The answer I came to was the fact that I was actively conditioned to be an over achiever ! My mum was a teacher (and half Nigerian so very strict!), who forced me to study everyday. That’s a key reason why I am able to read and critically think so well, because of that foundation in childhood.

My dad also paid for me to go to private schools which also directly contributed to this - from early I was given a foundation and privilege of how to reach ‘success’ because private schools teach students how to jump through societal hoops. I learnt how to pass exams well, and get to the best universities in the UK for example.

Relationships however, are a different thing. I didn’t grow up seeing any positive relationships around me, which means I often have struggled to ‘replicate’ the necessary patterns or behaviour for ‘success’ in my personal relationships, in the same way I have done for my career.

Ultimately I believe that how we view and move through life is subconsciously influenced by the experiences we went though as children. The art of adult life is reparenting yourself and looking at life though the eyes of an unspoilt child- *what can I now teach myself*? I’m now teaching myself how to attract and maintain healthy relationships. Perhaps that ‘success’ will take longer than my career but it will happen , especially as I made the commitment to invest in therapy and mentoring 🫶🏽

P.S - in my private schools I was often the only minority and the poorest in my school. This created a lot of insecurities in me that became barriers for my career (interestingly these barriers became real ONLY when I left my 9-5 to set up DIE4ART, because the art of becoming an #entrepreneur shines a BRIGHT light on all your hidden subsconsious insecurities!

Creating a life of self agency and autonomy away from the 9-5 structures is the biggest journey of self discovery you will ever start… 👣

Many #WOC especially, are carrying a subconscious inferiority wound that is holding your back in their careers, relationships and taking a leap of faith to create dream careers where you can become truly be *alive* . “Fixing” yourself is not the answer- that’s a whitewashed capitalist version of the healing and wellness industry. Yoruba and indegenous awareness, understands the need to create a relationship with your shadow self; aka the need to meet your demons and not ‘banish’ them away, but work with them… especially if you are tired of how your current life looks and feels and want to create something new…

Interested in learning more? I warmly invite you to look at updated and REFRESHED website: www.die4artbynaomi.com 🖤 👣

This piece of writing was originally intended to be published by @theslowfactory 

For me, decolonizing the mind means questioning our ways of being (ontology), our  ways of knowing (epistemology), and our design and purpose (teleology). This  provocative essay aims to provoke this by shattering what we think we know about  libraries; the mainstream assumption that the Library is a safe and benevolent  institution. By exposing the relationship between Librarianship, colonialism and white  supremacy It is hoped that the Slow Factory community can begin a much-needed  conversation about this issue and continue to develop conversations on how to design  the decolonial future we are all aiming for. 

A good starting-point is what does a decolonial future look like for you? The term  ‘decolonial’ is open to many different meanings based on geographical context and  personal identity. Nonetheless, within the Slow Factory community, there's arguably a  shared philosophical and spiritual vision of a decolonial future where equity and justice  have won; and where historical, systematic, and structural violence have ended  through the dismantling of oppressive institutions and the use of indigenous wisdom  to shape and create new systems. 

For me, when freedom dreaming what the new decolonial world will look like, I  regularly ask myself whether current [colonial] institutions can evolve and be re imagined to fit into a new world, or whether they require complete abolition? It may  come as a shock to many that my line of work (Critical Librarianship) involves arguing  that the Library, often seen as a ‘neutral’ and ‘benevolent’ institution, requires  significant re-imagining. Since completing a Master’s degree in Race and Resistance in 2018, followed by a Masters in Library and Information Studies in 2020, I have held  various roles in academic libraries. Currently, I am an academic subject librarian based  in London, specialising in Global Black Studies and Fashion. Although I benefit from  light skin privilege, as a black woman, being a librarian isn't the safe or ‘cute’ profession many assume it to be. In a field dominated by middle-class white women (Statistics  vary slightly but 82% - 96.7% of librarians are white in the UK and USA). Racism from  library colleagues and library users is commonly experienced by librarians, library 

assistants and library technicians of colour. This takes many forms. For example, I  plan to publish an open-access article on the regularity of hair microaggressions I and  other racialized black and female gendered librarians have experienced in UK  libraries. Unfortunately, this will build on and echo other documented experiences of  microaggressions and forms of racism(s) experienced by librarians in USA. 

The physical whiteness of the profession is not the only reason why I argue libraries are in need of a radical reimagination. There is a deeper and more serious issue of epistemic violence. We are all familiar with the phrase ‘Knowledge is Power’ and often  view it as a positive term. This is a one-dimensional understanding of the phrase though. ‘Knowledge is Power’ underlines the reality that colonial hegemonic Power  controls, owns, shapes and influences what is passed onto to us as ‘knowledge’.  However, did you know Western Libraries played a key role in this process? Whilst  pre-colonial societies, of course, had their own forms of knowledge preservation and  production, they differed significantly from the modern libraries we know and visit  today. One major difference is that pre-colonial societies gave great importance to oral  traditions and other indigenous modes of communication. Indigenous wisdom was often passed down through family lines, secret societal rituals and divination, folklore  and stories, symbols, languages and other modes of communication which  Colonialism destroyed. Personally, I have indigenous American in my DNA. Aspects  of this identity will forever be out of reach to me because the vocabulary and  knowledge needed to access the Truth has been systematically and epistemically  destroyed by Settler Colonialism. 

Western Libraries played a key role in this epistemic destruction. Libraries were  established by European colonial powers, with specific concentration on written  materials to dismantle local knowledge, suppress local language and traditions and  replace them with ‘civilised’ Western knowledge and culture. Even today, academic 

institutions and consequently their libraries continue to favour and place emphasis on written materials over oral knowledge, and in particular western forms of knowledge from the Global North The dominance of English-speaking Western scholars, largely  from hetero-normative, cisgender male, white, European backgrounds, clearly  reinforces systematic othering and exclusion created by colonialism. Moreover, it is  further evidence of the negative entanglements between ‘knowledge’ and power. 

Power defines knowledge because as Audre Lorde noted “power writes the books” (and builds, designs and defines the educational holders of this knowledge such as  libraries) 

The acquisition of library resources is also historically intertwined with global epistemic  oppression for other reasons. For example, modern library collections often include  artifacts and documents which were acquired through colonial exploitation and  plunder. Indeed, I have worked in an academic library that prided itself on having one  of the earliest copies of the Quran. The document was ultimately stolen by a white  British colonist visiting the UAE. Furthermore, the way resources are classified in  libraries is also embedded with colonialist biases. Users of libraries know that library  books have a unique code on their spine which is how they are found by users and  how they are catalogued in library systems. The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC)  and Library of Congress Classification (LCC) systems, which are widely used for  cataloguing books, reflect Eurocentric biases because of who designed them. For  instance, “ LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) topics have been  classified as Abnormal Psychology, Perversion, Derangement, as a Social Problem  and even as Medical Disorders. Similarly, the Library of Congress only recently ceased  using the term "illegal aliens" to describe non-citizens who have entered the United  States without authorization. 

It is of course undeniable that public access to information, via institutions like  Libraries, is vital for governance and civil life. As Slow Factory have posted before “we  can’t dismantle systems of oppressions without critical thinking and open education”. Libraries arguably can provide thus by facilitating access to knowledge, education,  and diverse perspectives. Arguably, this is why they have been attacked by many  conservatives in the US, through book banning which form a wider political strategy of  anti-decolonisation. Similarly, in the UK, tax cuts have meant many public libraries  have been forced to close. This further reduces communities’ access to information  that can surely help to liberate their minds and consciousness.  

Nevertheless, this information is not neutral. Decisions such as who writes, and about  whom and in what format; who gets to have a platform, who gets published, who has  their voice amplified, who has their voice suppressed are choices that continue to be 

made by hegemonic identities and institutions like libraries. Therefore, libraries aren’t  neutral. They are part of a wider structure that needs to be disrupted if we are to create  a decolonial future. 

Whilst there are many BIPOC and Critical librarians such as myself and others who  are doing the much-needed physical and emotional labour to decolonise libraries, we cannot work in siloes to do this work. We need more of you to disrupt the Western  Library. Therefore, the next time you walk into a library, remember they are not neutral  institutions or spaces. Begin to ask critical questions such as: Whose knowledge and  knowledge methods are missing? How many non-white library staff can you see, and  if you see them, question if they are truly happy and safe? Can you see any signs that  show the library space has been designed to promote intersectional ways of being and  knowing for multiple intersectional communities? Library work is clearly political and 

whilst many of you reading this essay may have had pleasant experiences in libraries, if “the rhetoric surrounding librarianship continues to border on vocational and sacred  language rather than acknowledging that librarianship is a profession […]and as an  institution, historically and contemporarily flawed, we [will continue ] to do ourselves a  disservice”. As already mentioned, Decolonizing our minds entails questioning our  ways of being, knowing, and purpose. Rethinking the design, purpose, and essence  of libraries, and challenging our beliefs about them and the knowledge they hold is  integral for a decolonial epistemic justice and a decolonial future in general.  

To research further into some of the issues mentioned in this article access  these free open access resources: 

Vocational Awe and Librarianship: The Lies we tell ourselves by Fobazi Ettarah https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/vocational-awe/ 

Change the Subject Documentary | Full Length | Watch this film and learn why  “words are also actions.” The Change the Subject documentary has been screened  at over one hundred universities and libraries in the United States and around the  world, and has inspired library workers to address the ways that systemic racism  continues to pervade institutions, particularly in controlled vocabularies.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SroscdR7-Y

Libraries are not neutral: A pocket sized guide to libraries and their colonial  legacy: https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/libraries-are-not neutral-a-pocket-sized-guide-to-libraries-and-t 

Knowledge Justice: Disrupting Library and Information Studies through Critical Race Theory : Black, Indigenous, and Peoples of Color scholars use critical  race theory (CRT) to challenge the foundational principles, values, and assumptions  of Library and Information Science and Studies (LIS) in the United States. They  propel CRT to center stage in LIS, to push the profession to understand and reckon  with how white supremacy affects practices, services, curriculum, spaces, anD  policies.  

https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-edited-volume/5114/Knowledge-JusticeDisrupting Library-and 

Critical Library Studies guide by Symphony Bruce  

https://subjectguides.library.american.edu/c.php?g=1025915&p=7749810 

Inclusivity and library cataloguing  

https://www.zotero.org/groups/4901078/social_justice_and_higher_education/collecti ons/P3GEBWTV 

up//root is a community + publishing platform amplifying critical voices in  libraries, archives and cultural heritage 

https://www.uproot.space/about; 

We Here®️ seeks to provide a safe and supportive community for Black and  Indigenous folks, and People of Color (BIPOC) in library and information  science (LIS) professions and educational programs, and to recognize, discuss, and  intervene in systemic social issues that have plagued these professions both  currently and historically 

https://www.wehere.space/about 

Political Library accounts to Instagram’s to follow. 

@theblacklibrarianmale 

@crt_collective 

@librarianswithpalestine 

@wehere.space 

@uproot.knowledge 

@blackandgoldeducation

@blackgirlinarchives

The new outfits inspiration from pinterest from last night that I had saved, to buy today, for tonight proves it.

I don’t need more clothes.

I don’t need to ‘update’ my wardrobe.

Yet I felt I had too, in order to look ‘good’ for my night out tonight …

An automated and automatic thought that’s keeps me as a clog in the machine

And probably you too,

Yes, you too are the devil in Prada.

The fashion industry is built on the psychology and contributes to the idea that we can control how people see us based on what we wear

Fashion operates in trend cycles and if you fall out of the trend you won’t be seen as ‘on trend’ which means…. death …

Literally: social death …

No more belonging

No more fittting in with the ‘cool kids’

A lack of survival amongst the socially  ‘fittest’ in our culture right now : the most ‘attractive’ people: the influencers, the stylists, the models, the it girls …

Buying clothes just to impress people in the first place … it goes back to our conditioning : the negative beliefs we have about our self: the lack of love and validation we have for ourselves

If no one gave it to us first, we don’t. If no complements our outfit, we don’t

Reconciling with this idea : that your worth immeasurably and undefinably exists, with or without, the latest trends, and that if you exist in the highest frequency of (self) LOVE, it will certainly be felt by those around you (even if you’re not mirroring back what is on the latest fashion FYP page) will actually change your shopping decisions and make you more sustainable.

It will change your shopping habits even more than caring about the environment because humans only care about our ourselves.. thanks to our capitalist individualistic conditioning

In other words

Don’t worry babe you’ll still look great and will still receive love validation even in that ‘old’ dress.

My name is Naomi and I’ve realised that we can’t have a social revolution until we revolutionise our self: our thinking and our personal approach to knowledge, truth and power

I was enjoying my break until a small voice today whispered go back on. At first I thought it was the voice of addiction : we know that social media was designed with the technology of gambling: to keep users hooked especially as our attention is what pays Meta

Go on…. Go on it she whispered to me

Today I did. And I realised why that voice, which I now know to be Spirit, told me to log back on: that there are people on my accounts who need to see my masterclass on remembering abundance.

Posting, when it’s designed to help and empower others, is very different from posting solely to promote ego and help self. The feeling I felt after posting was : peace. A sensation that I always feel when I do actions that are aligned to my purpose (which is to help others, predominantly women find personal freedom, healing, and purpose so they have the resources, motivation and elevated consciousness to create collective freedom) It doesn’t matter if my post hardly gets any likes, what matters is it’s visibility : the visibility of a positive message such as how to remember abundance during times of scarcity

Going forwards I’m definitely going to use IG less- I will only go on when I have a message for my followers: a message that can help them. In today’s case, sharing my masterclass could help someone who’s in a difficult position:

Whether that’s someone suffering from something occurring in their personal lives, (there are a lot of redundancies happening in my network right now.) Or the person be bogged down by what’s happening collectively- my masterclass is aimed to help you look at life a little differently …

…because once you look at life differently, life begins to look differently back at you ….

that’s coming from someone who’s overcome a lot of ‘big’ challenges such as being sectioned twice, and leaving a racist job..

But anyway I digress. If you too need the link for my masterclass : here it is

https://youtu.be/PM1iCs0YyDs?si=_gM8kLwTd1HGdAmA

Yet this is precisely the kind of context this work was created for: I’m sharing a replay of my masterclass, Remembering Abundance which I published today . It is grounded in real-world challenges, social justice, and the question of how we sustain ourselves and each other through periods of uncertainty.

My approach draws on an #indigenous frameworks, which I recently learnt could be defined as psycho spiritual epistemologies, resistance and neuroscience, to explore how we meet uncertainty—even in the midst of personal, societal, and institutional crisis.

If it feels useful, you’re very welcome to watch the replay here, in your own time:

https://youtu.be/PM1iCs0YyDs?si=sXwzHQ88iGSBwF5l

Naomi ❤️

Topic: Remembering ABUNDANCE In Times Of Scarcity! ⚡️🌍🌳

Time: Apr 26, 2026 08:00 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82743267077?pwd=98mQM5bKYTib81DoZnM8D7raRhFXaC.1

Join me, Naomi, for a powerful and thought-provoking live YouTube session on Remembering Abundance at 8 pm.

Building on previous rich and reflective conversations, this session will explore the meaning of abundance beyond mainstream narratives. Together, we’ll unpack how abundance can be understood through indigenous, decolonial, and lived perspectives and grounding the discussion in real-world experiences of creativity and entrepreneurship

If you miss it, don't worry, the replay will be on my YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/@DIE4ARTBYNAOMI

If I was using CHATGPT, it would say “this is not blind faith, or delusion but a proven scientific fact”.

For me this is an affirmation which holds something deep and personal for me because it’s something I’ve had to apply to my life ever since I took a giant leap of faith to quit my job and pursue my dreams full time back in 2024.

I believed I could design the Unseen, just as I know you who is reading this are able to.

‘The Unseen’ often creates anxiety and pessimism. In our fast, capitalist world, delay is often seen as denial.

There have been many times when I have fallen into despair. Personal finances some months, ongoing Genocides everyday… there has been many times when I have felt scared and felt things are out of my control…Then I do something that has never failed to reset my balance and hope… I turn to the Earth.

I touch grass, I touch trees, I take a moment to breathe deeply and I listen to birds. I disconnect from the 3D modern world and allow nature to help me reconnect to Courage, Rejuvenation, Abundance, Growth, Resilience and Receiving that are embedded within her natural ecosystems . I remember the qualities, mindset shifts, behavioural changes and feelings which are mandatory for designing the unseen in both our personal lives and our collective, structural reality.

So today on World Earth Day take a moment to really immerse yourself in this beautiful earth and remember your Courage, Peace, Beauty and Power.

And in 4 days time join me for my free youtube masterclass, which will be a positive space designed to help us remember abundance in times of scarcity. Link is here

I will see you on Sunday 8pm!

Naomi

This was a discussion about abundance and scarcity, facilitated by Naomi and Dr Laura Rennie. The conversation explored different perspectives on abundance, particularly from an indigenous and decolonial framework, with participants sharing personal experiences and positionality. Key topics included :

Abundance Perspectives and Personal Experiences

The meeting began with introductions and informal discussion. Naomi shared her perspective on abundance from an indigenous and decolonial standpoint, emphasising ancestral wisdom and personal freedom. Laura reflected on her motivations and raised questions about how abundance applies to individuals facing immediate practical and financial realities. The discussion highlighted the importance of grounding these ideas in lived experience and maintaining open, reflective dialogue.

Business, Economics and Abundance

The conversation explored abundance and scarcity in relation to economic conditions and entrepreneurship. There was discussion of the tension between material and non-material understandings of abundance, including the role of wealth distribution and structural inequality. Naomi shared insights from her entrepreneurial journey, emphasising the importance of mindset while recognising the complexity of broader systemic challenges.

Abundance vs Scarcity Mindset

Naomi discussed approaching challenges from a mindset of possibility rather than fear, particularly in relation to creating opportunities and navigating uncertainty. Laura questioned how abundance can be defined and practiced in ways that avoid reinforcing individualism or aligning with dominant capitalist values. Both emphasised the importance of translating theory into meaningful, community-oriented action.

Social Justice and Messaging

The discussion explored approaches to communicating social justice issues beyond academic spaces. Naomi reflected on using accessible and culturally relevant entry points to engage wider audiences, while Laura raised questions about how messaging aligns with decolonial values and economic realities. The exchange emphasised the importance of critical reflection, accountability, and openness in this work.

Personal Growth and Perspectives on Power

Naomi and Laura reflected on how their thinking around race, power, and resistance has evolved over time. Naomi referenced academic influences alongside personal experiences that shaped her understanding of power structures and decolonial practice. The discussion highlighted how personal growth and reflection inform approaches to social justice and community work.

Decolonising Knowledge and Academia

Naomi and Laura discussed the challenges of incorporating alternative and ancestral knowledge systems into academic and publishing contexts. They reflected on the dominance of Western frameworks, the limitations of traditional citation practices, and the barriers to recognising non-dominant forms of knowledge. The conversation emphasised the need to challenge these structures while creating space for more inclusive approaches.

Community, Education and Access

The conversation highlighted the importance of developing community-based understandings of abundance, particularly in relation to education and youth engagement. Naomi and Laura discussed the need for spaces that support critical thinking, dialogue, and community-led learning, as well as the importance of empowering individuals to take ownership of knowledge and education outside of formal systems.

Community Dialogue and Ongoing Conversations

Naomi and Laura reflected on the value of creating spaces for open and honest discussion, particularly those that centre shared experiences and collective learning. They emphasised the importance of maintaining accessibility and inclusivity in these conversations and recognised the need for ongoing dialogue that connects ideas to action.

Academic and Professional Challenges

Naomi and Laura discussed challenges related to accessibility, career transitions, and navigating institutional structures. They reflected on the importance of creating work that is both meaningful and accessible, while also building alternative spaces for knowledge-sharing and community engagement.

⸻

Wish you had been part of the  discussion?

Do want to continue the conversation on abundance, ?

If you said yes to both in your head then I’d love to invite you to my live YouTube stream on ‘remembering abundance’

26th April 2026 = my live YouTube stream at 8pm.  Here is a snippet of what we will be discussing: 

https://youtu.be/8kcOEKGoqhk?si=2uSW4rtTul1iiAAw

See you there !