This Single Garment of Destiny
It’s been a week of very big emotions. Anxiety and fear and frustration and rage and grief. Regardless of how consciously you choose to engage with politics, you have most definitely bumped up against these emotions in the orbit of humans around you.
So I have a few balms to share with you, practices that have helped me, words that have sent light down a dark tunnel, and a song that I’ve had on repeat.
1. Go move. Walk or dance or throw a ball or lift a weight. One of the first yoga classes I ever taught was the day after Trump won in 2016, and the experience made me a firm believer in movement being a safe space to process big emotions.
2. Liz Franczak: “Getting something wrong isn’t the end of the story. It’s part of the story.”
3. James Baldwin: “I never have been in despair about the world. Enraged. I’ve been enraged by the world, but never despair. I cannot afford despair…you can’t tell the children that there is no hope.
4. Rebecca Solnit: “You can keep walking whether it’s sunny or raining. Take care of yourself and remember that taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself, because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn, but is still being woven and mended and washed.”
5. A friend of mine shared this the day after the election: “Where shall I find comfort today? Surely not in all the old ways of jockeying for a position of safety. Today's message is that the world doesn't offer safety. It offers beauty and connection and opportunities to be of service and to love. Hiding behind the structures of so-called power can only protect me for so long. The truth is that there is no safety in life. Nature knows this. Life is a grand adventure and I get to live it today. May I live it to the fullest. May I take advantage of every opportunity to love and connect with other beings and to notice and appreciate the beauty around me, to step gently and remember that it is a tremendous blessing to be alive.”
6. The song “Old Note” by Lisa O’Neill. This is a masterpiece, and it has comforted me on very low days. Below Lisa performs the song on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series.