Wasn't it nice, while we were just waiting for the wave to hit the shore? Sure, it was unpleasant to think about how big it would be, but it was also peaceful, in a way.
So here we are. The turbulence of this past week mimics the turbulence of the post-election moment I know we all felt. That unease was of course fueled by the realization that what we are now experiencing (the pit in our stomach of loss, horror, and disbelief) would come as he took office and took control. And now, here we are, seeing it unfold. Riding the waves.
And the words I wrote the day after the election are still true, and maybe helpful to revisit: Unfortunately, a lot of things make sense now that have been floating up for me. Building up my regular yoga practice. Ideas for change that can be made at the local level. Gathering women. Owning a house in Maine. Training my system for peace. I won’t let Trump and a Trump win steal my peace. It’s been too hard earned for me to let it go. I know what makes me strong, and I will do it.
I learned before that there are ways to react out of fear and anger, and I don’t want to do that. I want to act out of joy, and love, and vision, and purpose. To move from a place of balance, using the tools that I want to see in the world I’m trying to create. Be the change. Use new thinking to solve the old problems. Hate got us here.
Have our feelings - we should feel and express and know the feelings, but not every feeling is worth acting on. Find spaces to grieve and rage. Then make spaces for building, for sorting, for connecting, for positive energy.
I won’t make assumptions about what Trump will do now. I won’t make assumptions about the people who voted for him. I will maintain curiosity, and concern, and attention… while also taking breaks, because it is not the only thing in the world. Because I have to fill my own cup and keep my line straight.
I know you’re afraid. Maybe tired. It was just starting to seem like maybe we were getting to a good place. It feels overwhelming. Like we're back in 2016. But we're not. Much has happened. The work we've done since then was real and has not been lost.
By now, after COVID and the last 8 years, hopefully you also know what makes you strong. What makes you able to be the person you want to be. If you don’t, start there. What do you need to do to maintain your own peace, to emotionally regulate, to keep focused on what is good and pure and true? DO that. Commit to it. Take care of yourself first.
Stay cool in your veins, keep warmth in your heart.
So where we don't have to make assumptions anymore about what Trump will do, because we've seen... a lot already... we can maintain attention to see what the rest of our country does. Because that remains unknown, to be seen. And certainly where the real action is, if you take the longer view.
Also, it appears that the writers of Saturday Night Live must read my blog. Or Letters to a Nation? Or someone on their staff knows their history!
Since most of you had no idea (like me) that the Declaration of Independence was a suicide pact, it totally threw me that they had a similar approach. Great minds think alike?
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