We are currently in a time that has many of us angry, disgusted and heartbroken by the state of this country. This place that has professed values it has rarely lived up to in its entirety. Where those who are currently in political power are trying to overwhelm and scare us. This place, that extracts and exhausts at what feels like every turn, that does not tell the truth about itself willingly. A place that our ancestors built but weren’t allowed any of its prosperity or access to its highly espoused ideals without a fight.
Many of us, I imagine, are still processing, still deciding how much we are willing to give and where. I also feel us taking the time we need to address our hurt around the election results. We are examining the stories we have told ourselves about this place. We are taking the time to clarify our vision. We are resting, healing, thinking. We are within the four walls of our ancestral, community house.
For those that are not quite ready to engage with the larger community just yet, that’s OK. No shame in it. We need people to tend to the house and keep the home fires burning. For those ready to engage, I have a few things to offer. Nothing new of course. These are things we have heard before. Consider this a reminder of blueprints left by our cultural, ancestral fore mothers and fathers.
Every action, however big or small, from tending the fires inside our ancestral four walls to protest, disruption, and civil disobedience has a place. Every drop feeds the ocean. Take this offering with a grain of salt. Take what interests you, leave the rest. Work from your square.
Turn Towards Life/Joy:
- Take slow, deep breaths from the diaphragm.
- Exercise/movement.
- Eat well, sleep, rest.
- Meditate, pray, chant, sit in silence, whatever your spiritual practice is, do it. Go into nature.
- Feel your emotions, let them move through.
- Make time to appreciate or practice the arts (music, dance, etc.).
Nurture/Build Community:
- See about your people, break bread together, spend time.
- Listen to each other, be curious.
- Build a space of love, truth, protection, humanity, integrity and growth.
- As adrienne maree brown and many have stated, move at the speed of trust. Move from your square to your family of origin or choice to friends and associates to city wide to statewide to nationwide to worldwide. Scale up and down as needed.
- Show up.
- Apply the principles of both/and (it can help hold the tension between divergent ideas).
Action Plans:
- Decide where you spend your money. Boycotts work. Shop local, thrift stores, barter, trade. Support the library.
- Go to a school board, city council meeting or town hall.
- Call your local, state and national reps with your concerns.
- Read.
- Learn more about our cultural and national histories.
- Learn a new skill set like sewing, gardening, CPR, fishing, etc.
- Volunteer, support mutual aid networks (a long standing tradition in our ancestry), bail and strike funds.
- Establish a safety plan, build a go bag and shelter in place kit (3 days worth to start, then 3 weeks, then 3 months worth of supplies).
- Recognize propaganda and call it out. Reject it.
- Have dream/ vision sessions (personal and community wide). We need to think about what we want for ourselves and this country.
- Be discerning with your energy.
- Write down what your highest values are, ask those around you to do the same. See if they align.
- Run for office.
- Protest, disrupt, whether through civil disobedience or a conversation that is riddled with disinformation and lies.
No one person needs to do it all. Just do something from your square. We go together. We build together. One drop, one action at a time. Even the rock yields to the flow of water in time. And before you know it we will have laid a new foundation from which to build our new home.