Your NameDevani Santos
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Cohort AssignmentEurope Summer-Fall 2023, Cohort 1
1. What do you see as your primary work at this stage of your life?

- Deep learning of self in order to show up at my most authentic, empathetic, and genuine self in my daily interactions.
- Prioritizing healing from past and recent traumas in order to not be “stuck.”
- Be non-committal when it comes to a specific life path -- I’m in a space in my life where I’m looking to be intentionally open to going down various paths of learning, work, relationships, and so on. I believe that being as open as possible now will lead me to the healthiest and most dynamic version of a stable life in the coming years.

2. What role do you see as yours to play?

- I’ve always seen myself as a connector, resourcer, and healer. My greatest passion in life is supporting people in getting to where they want to go.
- I have always had a natural talent of providing a safe and open space for people to dig deeper within themselves, and subsequently provide mapping, resourcing, inspiration, and guidance for folks to reach their manifestations.

3. What goals or aims do you have in regard to the above?

- I want to build my own capacity -- spiritually, emotionally, physically, and financially to be able to accomplish a lot of the things I feel called to.
- Build and increase my emotional resiliency.
- Build a community of like minded and aligned folks who are interested and committed to reducing harm to one another and the environment.

4. Where do you feel your next arenas for personal growth are?

I’m in a space in my life where I’m seeking to understand different ways of being and how I relate to them. For much of my adult life I’ve worked in social justice and have had very progressive and restorative ways of thinking. I’m hoping to understand how to put my passions into practice, while still being balanced with the reality of situations and the cultures that I live in and around.

5. And for professional growth?

- Understand regenerative design on a theoretical and practical level in order.
- Learn more practical and technical skills related to the fields I want to be in (data visualization, GIS, cartography, monitoring, etc.)
- Build confidence showing up as my full, most authentic self in diverse spaces

6. What have you invested in to get you where you are?

- Investment in higher education, different training programs around things I’m interested in such as restorative justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion training,
- A strong and consistent commitment to healing through learning meditation and mindfulness, building an intentional connection to nature, practicing gratitude, and contributing countless hours to my own therapy to make sure that I am emotionally, spiritually, and mentally sound and capable to deal with all that life throws at us.

7. What fields of learning and which thinkers have been important in your life?

- Experiential learning has played a huge role in my life. I've traveled to over 50 countries in my 28 years of life and have had the opportunity to cross paths with so many different kinds of people. In many of the places I've traveled, I've spent extensive time living with host families, building relationships with different community members, learning their ways of life, and being blessed with many stories of people's lived experiences. I carry many stories from my travels within me, and they help shape how I see and interact with the world.

8. Can you frame your philosophy or cosmology of life? What role(s) do humans play in it?

I'm really unsure as to what my philosophy of life is. I think things are quite simple -- we're all here, we're all interconnected, and we're all unique parts of what happens at any given moment. We all affect one another and everything around us. I think humans are here to try and put meaning to what life is, but that experience is very "human" in itself. I don't think humans, or any specific species is the gatekeeper of destiny or should have more power than another. I think because we're living in the human experience, we center ourselves, but we're not more important than anything else in life. We obviously have huge impacts on the rest of the world and what happens afterward (maybe), so I think it's our role to be as thoughtful as possible to cause the least amount of harm while we occupy this planet.

Date CreatedOctober 9, 2023