survival 101

This may not sound like a political rant, but it is. It's about surviving the news that greets us every day...coming from a man who is totally out of touch with reality, but nevertheless, has been entrusted with our nuclear codes. Scary thought. 

This is about loss of environmental protections, the eradication of public health initiatives and medical research (just when we are on the path to treatment of cancer with mRNA vaccines...), and the elimination of programs to protect the safety and purity of the water and food we have always taken for granted. It opposes gun violence. It is a call to alarm as the economy crashes, the military marches into our own cities, and human rights are dismissed with a shrug of someone's shoulders. It is a reminder that cruelty, arrogance, and greed are alive and well on Planet Earth.

"Deliberate cruelty is not forgivable.

It is the one unforgivable thing,

in my opinion."

~Tennessee Williams~

How are you coping with it? Are you worried? Scared? Disgusted? Angry? Depressed?

You could be experiencing all of those feelings...but still, you don't have to be consumed by negativity. I would recommend you try what I like to call "fierce mindfulness." It has been especially helpful to me this past week. If you already practice mindfulness meditation, you are ahead of the game. If not, this is a good time to start. You'll wish you had as the situation worsens...

For me, fierce mindfulness is an act of countercultural resistance, a refusal to succumb to the threats to our safety, well-being, and peace that are imposed on us by people who claim to be in power. Billionaires. Politicians. Liars and cheaters. You know who I mean.

I focused on mindfulness many times this past week. When the president announced his plans for a new White House ballroom. When RFK dismantled research into mRNA vaccines. When the military was deployed to the streets of Washington, DC. I could go on...

Here's how I did it. While other people fretted, or ranted, or chose to ignore the news and carry on as if nothing were wrong, I simply turned my attention to my very own senses, right where I was, in the moment. I focused on what I was seeing in the moment. What I was hearing. How the air around me felt. Which added up to something like this, most days: The sky was clear blue and cloudless. The air, warm. The breeze, gentle. I asked myself, "What more could I want? What could be better than this?" The chaos, the cruelty and injustice, the suffering of the entire world did not cause a ripple in my reality at the moment. In most of my mindful moments, in fact.

"You are the sky.

Everything else is just the weather."

~Pema Chodron~

When we surrender to worry, dread, anger, and fear we give them power over us. We bow to the enemy...but we don't have to. We can turn our attention inward. We can focus on all the ways the universe supports us. With intention, we can always find something to feel grateful for. Something that embraces beauty and peace. Something that heals us. Just a few minutes of respite from the craziness reminds us that there is hope.

"Resistance is feasible even for those 

who are not heroes by nature,

and it is an obligation, I believe,

for those who fear the consequences

and detest the reality of the attempt

to impose American hegemony."

~Noam Chomsky~

jan