A Healing Message about the U.S. Election

For those who are hurting, scared, frustrated, or angry - read on.

Dear Readers,

The following piece was originally posted on Blogspot after the 2016 Presidential Election. Everything I wrote then pertains to now, for those who are hurting or scared or frustrated or angry. If you are one of those people, read on.

Your community may need it too, so please repost and share if you’re so inclined.

November 9, 2016

Before I went to sleep last night, I tuned into the planet, my clients and the community. I knew I had to get real clear, real fast about the election results. I needed to fully align with spirit, truth, and love immediately, to ensure that I could be as supportive and helpful as possible when the fallout of this election began to rain down...

Here are the things that came to me in meditation, and I share them with you. They apply today, and they need to be practiced for the coming weeks, months or years.

1.       Stay in PRESENT TIME. Stay in the NOW.

We need to manage our anxiety, and not let fear overtake us. Anxiety feeds off of future-tripping, ruminating and dwelling on the past. If we are totally, 100% in the Now, there is immediate seeing that the Self, in the Ground of Being, is OK. Even if there is crisis afoot, the Self in present time will be able to make healthy, wise choices. No matter what, there is a sanctuary within that you can rest in. Do whatever practice or method or teaching you must in order to stay in the Now. We must wake up and drop the addiction to anxiety-producing story out there, over there. Be here. Stay in the Now.

2.       Stay GROUNDED.

What are your grounding practices? Exercise, run, walk, hike, swim. Walk on the earth. Garden. Eat healthy foods. It is VITAL to get enough sleep, not optional. Practice DEEP BREATHING. Get the air down into your belly, your abdomen, your diaphragm. Practice yoga, stretching, tai chi. Make love. Hug each other more tightly, hold hands longer. Spend time with a pet or with animals. Take a hot bath or shower. Reduce anxiety within you and around you. Simplify. Monitor screen time. Get off the computer. Go outside. Massage your feet. Meditate on the spot, at the drop of a hat. Center yourself. Drop in to yourself.

3.       MONITOR INPUT. Reduce time spent listening to, watching or reading the News.

Yes, it’s good to be informed. To get the facts. But we must keep it in serious check right now. The anxiety that comes flooding in by overstimulating newscasts, commentaries, and dramatic storylines is destructive in large amounts. Step away, take breaks. Turn it off. You are part of an ecosystem. Remember: garbage in = garbage out. Process what you’ve taken in before you imbibe further.

4.       BUILD COMMUNITY

Truly be with friends, neighbors, families, housemates. This is the time to join together. To appreciate the color of our nation, the marginalized groups, the rainbow and kaleidoscope of beauty around us. Celebrate diversity. It is a time of bonding. Cook together, laugh together, make music together. We need each other more than ever now. Practice kindnesses toward each other, toward strangers. Give the guy or gal next to you a leg-up.  Smile and compliment and encourage each other. Have a potluck for your block. Come together.

5.       Express JOY and GRATITUDE

Dysfunction and ignorance want others to be brought down, to wallow in the same quagmire. Don’t fall prey to negative thinking and destructive, hateful tendencies. Keep the vibration UP, UP, UP. Keep living, loving, laughing. In our household, we started a new practice immediately this morning on an erasable white board in the kitchen. We have written “TODAY I AM GRATEFUL FOR…” and each of us are writing three things a day that bring us joy and appreciation. Take a look around at how incredibly abundant you are. Maybe you have all of your arms and legs, you are healthy, you have a friend, you have a meal in your belly, you had a good cup of coffee, you are a kind person. Find that gratitude and grow it.

6.       Heal the greater family ECOSYSTEM.

This is the really important one to get. We are in a situation that resembles a dysfunctional family.¹ If we wake up and see the problem, coming out of denial, we can heal and get better. Maybe some people will have to hit bottom, which is sad, but it doesn’t have to take you down with it. By staying healthy, you will be less susceptible to being taken in by the illness, and getting sick yourself. Realize that you have to change your own actions and take personal responsibility. Keep the focus on yourself and what you do have control over. Pointing fingers and blaming will do no good.

Strengthen your own emotional, physical, mental immune system. Resist cancerous, toxic elements. Understand that there are lots of families and ecosystems all over the world that have had to deal with a poisonous or destructive presence and still overcame. This is no different. The United States is also a system. The rest of the elements must get stronger in order to continue thriving and stay in balance. Today’s election marks a disruption to our homeostasis. It is as if the great volcano Vesuvius blew, or the great flood arose. In response we now build together, protecting our cherished treasures of love, nature, diversity, compassion. Individually, we must do our part. Together, we thrive.

Stay focused on the solution, NOT the problem.  Commit to staying grounded, in the Now. Don’t buy into the fear. Manage anxiety. Cultivate joy, community, gratitude. As Thich Nhat Hanh says, “No mud, no lotus.” Awakening, beauty, and truth can all emerge from this election when we change our perception. Make the choice now, and commit to healing.

As I write this, I hear school children playing in the neighborhood school grounds. They are laughing. The sun is shining, the autumn leaves are rustling in the breeze.

These kiddos are alive, vibrant, thriving. Like these children, who need us, we must remain strong and healthy and keep building.

Flourish and heal, dear friends. Flourish and heal.

November 2016

NO MUD, NO LOTUS:

"Both suffering and happiness are of an organic nature, which means they are both transitory; they are always changing. The flower, when it wilts, becomes the compost. The compost can help grow a flower again. Happiness is also organic and impermanent by nature." ~Thich Nhat Hanh

1. Editor’s comment, November 7, 2024:

Those on the Left and Right have different versions of naming and perceiving the dysfunction. Here, I am pointing to projecting our shadow into a collective thoughtform or enemy, thereby living in villification and blame of “the other.” Cultivated fear keeps us in polarization and division, within and without.