We turn towards each other

We keep showing up with and for each other.

These are the words I have been repeating to myself for the last week.

Since the devastating election results in the States, I've witnessed myself and members of my community learn so much about how we cope with terrible news. Some of us have found anger to be the best medicine. There have been tears released and tears suppressed. There has been singing together in the park. So much Mary Oliver poetry (especially that one about worry). Some folks have rushed to action, while I've witnessed others (myself included) trying to make space to grieve first. I've seen folks get really small and quiet, and others get really big and loud.

In a time of terror and heightened risk for so many, there are countless valid paths back to a sense of safety.

For me, part of safety is always found in turning towards each other. Systems of oppression thrive when we are isolated and afraid.

Rugged individualism will NOT save us. We need each other.

Whether you have been feeling numb, shocked, afraid, uncertain, alone, angry, despairing, excited, unwell, energized, and/or grief-stricken: feel it. I support you finding what you need to survive this moment and what is coming.

Through it all, remember with me: we have each other. You are not alone.

Part of truly believing you are not alone is accepting you are also not responsible to "fix" this by yourself.

What brings you aliveness? What do you love fiercely?

Perhaps these questions can be a light towards what calls you, uniquely you, forward. We need artists, storytellers, healers, dreamers, fighters, lovers, parents, risk-takers, coaches, therapists, strategists, mediators, childfree folk, problem-solvers, possibilists, cooks, herbalists, organizers, and more.

We don't need you to be everything. Find your magic and the people who empower it.

As we process, prepare, and allow ourselves to keep dreaming of a better world, attention must be paid to what will fortify each of us for the road ahead. Part of how I resource myself and grow stronger is by allowing myself to receive help. Which reinforces: we need each other and can't do this alone. Strength in softening into receiving, in saying yes to what we create together.

Here are some resources that have been helping me these last few days, that I share in the hopes the support can expand further.

1. The Embodiment Institute is reminding us to feel what is here. This practice was so helpful to me and released some big tears (which I needed and was resisting)! I encourage you to check out the full recording if you are feeling too much or disconnected from feeling or not sure how to know what you're feeling. For those new to embodiment practice, this was a very accessible offering.

2. Hannah Husband is inviting us to rage together for ten minutes a day. Check out the whole practice series saved on their IG. As Hannah writes, these practices allow us to be with anger and "feel big enough to hold it as it moves through."

3. Shay Mirk again powerfully articulates the moment through their comics. Stay spiky, friends.

4. Laura, at the Grief House, is helping us breathe and feel with words of welcome and freedom. You can read the full practice here. Here's an excerpt:

breathe in welcome / breath out freedom

breathe in welcome

You're welcome here. You are invited - just exactly as you are: come in. You're welcome. Come.

breathe out Freedom

You are free. Free to shift and change. Free to leave and to return. Free to stay.

5. Nic Antoinette gave us a bunch of wonderful list-making journal prompts for the hard times such as: permission slips I am giving myself right now, examples of hard times I have survived in the past, and who & what I love. The additional prompts are here.

Imagine how much more support, encouragement, nourishment, and resistance we can co-create together if this all emerged in one week! We keep showing up with and for each other.

Keep going, my friend. To quote The Bengsons: if your heart is breaking, I hope it's breaking open.

Stories of self