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I formulated a few self-care tips for the Kavanaugh hearings.
Re-sharing now, bc the threat to our collective safety & rights are no less dire with the prospect of the Coney Barrett hearings--rather, even more, as she may be the tiebreaker in many critical cases.
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Re-sharing now, bc the threat to our collective safety & rights are no less dire with the prospect of the Coney Barrett hearings--rather, even more, as she may be the tiebreaker in many critical cases.
1/x Thread
1) embrace holy anger.
Ibn Gabirol says that “anger is a reprehensible quality, but when employed to correct or to reprove, or because of indignation at the performance of transgressions, it becomes laudable.”
Ibn Gabirol says that “anger is a reprehensible quality, but when employed to correct or to reprove, or because of indignation at the performance of transgressions, it becomes laudable.”
Or Audre Lorde: “Every woman has a well-stocked arsenal of anger potentially useful against those oppressions, personal and institutional, which brought that anger into being. Focused with precision it can become a powerful source of energy serving progress and change.”
The only question is, how will you choose to focus it? Your time—your energy—your talents—your money. Plenty of places to put it.
Especially this close to the election. GOTV. Donate. Volunteer on election day to work the polls or observe. We need all hands on deck.
Especially this close to the election. GOTV. Donate. Volunteer on election day to work the polls or observe. We need all hands on deck.
2) Do Something Kind for Someone Today (and that someone can be you)
If you’re feeling angry and scared, this would be a really good time to figure out how to offer something of yourself over to someone else, if you can.
If you’re feeling angry and scared, this would be a really good time to figure out how to offer something of yourself over to someone else, if you can.
It can be a powerful reminder of what you can control, of the ways in which you can be a force for good in the world, and it can obviously be valuable to others.
(Psst what we can control is how much we work to GOTV! Letters! Calls! Texts!)
(Psst what we can control is how much we work to GOTV! Letters! Calls! Texts!)
Can you (socially distanced) bring someone a casserole? Volunteer for a phone bank shift? How about another phone bank shift? Reach out to someone who’s having a hard time? Do it, if you can. It will help in multiple ways.
And if you can’t do that work today, please focus on kindness to yourself.
Can you offer yourself something that you’d offer to someone else that you love if they were having a hard time right now?
Can you offer yourself something that you’d offer to someone else that you love if they were having a hard time right now?
3) Double Down on Your Spiritual Practice
If you have a spiritual practice, whether prayer, meditation, yoga, writing, running, long walks in nature, something else, this is a good time to go hard on it. It can keep you grounded & focused & clear abt your role in the big picture.
If you have a spiritual practice, whether prayer, meditation, yoga, writing, running, long walks in nature, something else, this is a good time to go hard on it. It can keep you grounded & focused & clear abt your role in the big picture.
The next month is going to be HARD. And it's not clear that we'll get all the results in by Election night, and it's not clear that there won't be an ugly, drawn-out, contested mess in the time right after that. We need tools to hold us through all this.
Whether or not “spiritual practice” is the right phrase for you, have something that brings you back into the present moment, that helps you connect to something larger than yourself, in whatever way, and can help you expand your own capacity and all of our collective capacity.
We need all hands on deck, and there's a lot of deck.
