 Photo of sunrise on a foggy Hudson River from Susan Meyer (https://www.susantarameyer.com) Scroll down to below the next pic for a few super-helpful resources. Headings are there to guide swift skimming! Almost everybody I work with or know in any context is deeply dismayed by the latest elections in the US. People are using words like devastated, shattered, and terrified, and are talking about grieving. There’s no problem with any absolutely & automatically valid reaction you’re having. More than anything, I invite you to look for soothing. See if you can stay away from ongoing focus on all that’s WRONG. AND I also want to invite you back to what is true, what abides, what is real, what we can actually count on, what matters, what will get us through, where we might put our focus to feel fully equipped to carry on with our intentions for our own lives and the greater good and the Earth itself. Scroll down for a number of resources to explore if & when you feel drawn. First, a story from someone else My friend & colleague Susan Meyer is a mindfulness meditation teacher and nature photographer. She already has a habit well in place, most every morning, to visit the river she lives next to in upstate New York. Via the practical magic of her kayak, she often gets right in it. Her relationship with this river represents a deep soul connection. Susan didn’t watch election results come in on the evening that was happening, and before she looked in the morning, she went out to meet the river—and to meet herself at the river—first of all. What happened was that she got a visceral sense of a sort of timeless view of what matters. Even going only as far back as the beginning of the story of the United States, she felt into how this river had seen the Revolutionary War and all that has taken place in the human realms from then to now. The river had flowed through it all; continued to provide water and take part in the water cycle; held and fed any number of beasts and fishes and birds, plants and trees; provided solace & peace & nourishment to any number of humans. This river was full of hope & love & an ongoing vote cast for life to continue in the healthiest possible way for all concerned. And from that awareness, Susan felt the time was right to check the election results. In that very moment, a two-word text that told all she needed to know popped in from her daughter: “Soooo….. Canada? 😭” What I’ve been doing & holding to Most of y’all know that I do EXTRA processes for soothing & clarity when something feels off, and I’ve been processing away to spend as much time as possible in alignment. (Note that you can click on the tag PROCESS on my blog to see specific tools there. There’s also a helpful tools tab on my website.) Prioritizing alignment and cultivating a sense of well-being includes more time in nature and more care with basic things like nutrition and sleep and qigong, in my case—substitute whatever you do that you know keeps your body feeling better and your breathing coming in more fully. I’m holding fast to all that I care about. All the intentions I had for myself and this country and various populations I care deeply about—these are unchanged and still with me. I’m committed. I’ve been thinking about how many people hold like beliefs and care just as deeply as I do, and we are united. I know the laws of the Universe are unchanged by election results, and I’m still tapping into all that keeps me creating & living into visions of what matters to me and allows me to support others on their journeys. I’m so clear that I cannot support people if I go into depression or deep freeze, things I did routinely in the past anytime the political landscape felt threatening and like it was just going in the wrong direction (seemingly counter to evolution and not aligned with the good of all concerned!). In fact, I believe the evolution is always underway, and it’s evident to me, looking back over time, that the process never looks linear. And still, we’ve evolved, and we will continue to do just that. Further resources, including from others, can be found below the next photo. Headings allow for quick skimming to see if anything calls to you.  Photo of a double rainbow over the Hudson River from Susan Meyer (https://www.susantarameyer.com) RESOURCES
A SONG Here is a song that makes me teary & goosebumpy, written & performed by singer-songwriter Kathleen Hannan of NC. She started writing this right before the election, finishing the recording just before the results started coming in. She wrote me that she wanted to create a song to tap into “what would still be here no matter which way the election went.” EFT I have created an EFT (emotional freedom technique, or tapping) playlist on my YouTube channel for post-election pain & general political suffering, dread, and fear & loathing! These were drawn from pre-existing EFT sessions and I’ll add to the list as more arises. A MEDITATION On the night of the American elections, I sent out a link to this mailing list to offer a 3-centers meditation. I had recorded it at noontime with no clue of how things would turn out. Here it is again, as you may still find it helpful in meeting your dread and soothing yourself in body, heart, and head. Find this election-soothing 3-centers meditation on YouTube. POWERFUL TEACHINGS FROM ABRAHAM-HICKS If you ALREADY know & love the work of Abraham-Hicks and want & feel able to invest 50 bucks in a spiritual perspective on the political scene, I strongly recommend purchasing the Abraham Now broadcast that took place a few days after the elections, on November 9. I found all that was said deeply healing, supportive, and full of wisdom, clarity, and encouragement to stay connected to what is always real, whatever may be going on politically for better or worse. If you aren’t already pretty connected to these teachings and to Abraham-speak, you may not vibe with how they talk about this or even get what they’re saying (because of their particular lingo and perhaps because a foundational understanding of what & how they teach would be needed). That said, if you feel drawn, go go go! DROP-IN GROUP COACHING Last Monday night, during drop-in group coaching, we did some beautiful work together to soothe election fears & woes. Please join anytime, including tonight. The topics we cover are set by what people bring forth. You’re always welcome to talk or participate in silence, you can insert a question in the chat, and you can be off-cam, if you prefer, even if you choose to offer a coaching topic. This information, along with very occasional cancellations, can always be found on the homepage of my website. Love & blessings, Jaya
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 Sometimes, in the realm of the political, insanity seems to pour freely, brim over the top, spew from all quarters in all directions.Then how do you hold to the spiritual, to love, to trusting that your vote for goodness, tolerance, and peace actually counts, that enough people are out there stirring up that brand of consciousness that we could override fear and actually turn the tables? How do you maintain and cultivate sanity in times like these—by which I mean, NOW? Tell the truth as best you understand it. Talk. Speak what matters. Write, blog, tweet what matters. This week, I read about Donald Trump tweeting these words: “26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military—only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?” Don Omar tweeted his simple, searing response: “For men not to rape women. Maybe that.” Discuss. Invite intelligent people to talk with you and in groups. Talk and keep talking. Say smart things, notice the smart things other people say. Where idiocy seems to sometimes reign, keep voting for intelligent, thoughtful discourse. Admit what you don't know. Intelligence does not and cannot require absolute knowing. Acknowledge the gray areas. Concede that news sources, studies, and facts may be unreliable at best. That doesn't mean no clarity is possible anywhere. Expand the discussion and locate the nuances, even when no clear answers or solutions result. Fascist, fundamentalist, and any flavor of us-them rhetoric tends to be black-and-white. Cultivate a consciousness of good news amidst the craziness. Consider and discuss how huge it is, actually, that someone as radical-left as Bernie got as far as he did, and how, culturally, we progress as a whole society when a prominent radical is taken seriously at the national level of politics. (This is what's happening with Trump, too, on the other polarity, and that may be why Bernie's being phased out of the presidential running could portend the same for the Orange Blob.) Consider and discuss how far Hilary's gotten, a point no woman reached until 2016. And acknowledge that it makes sense she's the witch of the hour, but we can't simply allow the press and certain interest groups to cast such a shadow on her that the malevolence-meets-incompetence force that is Trump would be considered a better candidate while she's actually truly qualified for the job.) Act. Do small things. Do large things. Brainstorm with others about what can be done. Join groups doing things. Register people to vote and drive them to the polls when November rolls around. Volunteer with Moveon.org or some other organization you like that organizes such things. I once heard someone ask Byron Katie if loving what is means you shouldn't get involved when something bad seems to be happening. Her response was that love takes action, and that the clearer you are (her inquiry process is about questioning thoughts that keep you from peace, hence from your clarity), the more action you're likely to take. I've found this to be true, as I used to be frozen with depression and horror over the state of the world, and I now don't believe it should be otherwise—this is what is, what we've got as far as we've gotten to so far—but I understand something else is possible, and wherever I can vote (with speech, actions, and literal voting) for what looks like closer-to-love to me, I'm casting my vote. Read good reads. Get your news from sources that aren't overly conventional or depressing, that encourage thought, that flip things around. I especially appreciate DailyKos.com, which compiles daily digests of good leftist stuff that goes beyond all-bad-news to include incisive thinking, humor (um, not necessarily love-based, but it's so good to laugh—and laughter's a good antidote to fear), and some reports of brilliant activism and people of all walks of life leading the way to change. Don't get news at bedtime. Just don't. Bad idea. Go to sleep thinking good thoughts, using sleep as the great reset button that it is. Tell yourself, and dare to believe it, Tomorrow all things new, all things possible. Face your fear but don't focus on it, don't expand it, and don't make it the point of departure for or endpoint of your discussions; don't make fear the motivation for your actions. Don't focus your discussions on what's scary and predict terrible outcomes. When fear grabs you, breathe into it, and stay with it awhile instead of shoving it down. But don't just run off at the mouth about how valid it is to be in full-blown terror. (You'll find plenty who'll agree with you, and that will be no comfort.) Vote for what you want before election time by aiming discussion (and thought) toward what's possible, what could work, what could foster and maintain our good relations with other countries, what could benefit more of the people who inhabit this nation across a very real spectrum of diversity. Spend time visualizing positive occurrences and outcomes for the nation and the world. New-Age bullshit? Nope. You're going to be less clear, less active, less inspired to speak and act if you're drenched in fear and negativity and cultivate a bleak vision for how it'll all come out. Even if you're not sure it's valid, just experiment with soothing yourself and imagining the best of happenings and outcomes. If it makes you feel better on any level, it's a worthy experiment. Remember when you didn't think the nation was ready for a Black president? Remember when it seemed impossible to keep Obama in office for two terms? We've basically had a decade of something seriously radical for our country, and it was a long time coming. Did you get jaded and forget that? Did you get too focused on very real problems we still have and lose sight of the wonder? For the first decade in history, Black children have a very high ceiling for what they can aspire to, a very different sense of what's possible for them personally and as a people. Not only have they had Black role models in the highest place, but so have my white kids—and I'm in awe of this fact, and so appreciative of this reality. So what else is possible? Dare to imagine into that, and vote for it, not only at official voting time in the fall, but through your thoughts, language, choices, and actions, small and large. Love & blessings, Jaya |
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