Before last night, I had faith that hate and bigotry would not prevail. But in fact, the American people have elected a president who campaigned largely on a platform of exclusion and divisiveness. As a sensitive soul, I am not only feeling the pain of this election in my heart, but I am feeling the pain of our country as a whole. I have no doubt that you may be feeling something similar.
We may wish we could change our country’s trajectory, but today, change can only start from within. So what can we, as sensitive, kind, compassionate human beings each do individually to bring healing and positive change to ourselves during this difficult time? Here are my suggestions.
1) Allow Yourself to Feel Sad – choosing to ignore our feelings here will never work. If we ignore them now they will not go away, but will only fester and become worse, building more fear and sadness. We have to accept our feelings, to understand them at the core and then use them to empower us to take action in the future. Especially in the days and weeks to come, allow yourself to cry, get angry, feel sad and discuss this at length with friends and loved ones. Seek professional help if needed. Remember that your pain and feelings are worthy and valid and it will help you to let them out.
2) Be in Your Body – mourning is important, but it is also important to take care of yourself, and give yourself some time away from your thoughts. The trouble is that the worse something is, the harder it feels to interrupt our worried/negative thoughts. Rather than focusing on taming the mind, instead focus on getting into the body. Go for a long walk, bike ride or run. Practice yoga, dance, sing and find some solace by being embodied in the present moment.
3) Spread Compassion – as you know, spreading hate will not serve anything. It is what helped get us into this situation in the first place. As a sensitive soul you are quite skilled at compassion, so don’t place limits or qualifications on your compassion. Set the intention to have compassion for every person, every opinion and recognize that if you were born with that person’s exact same brain and life experiences, you might think like them too. The key is not to hate each other into to change and growth, but to love each other. Hate only fosters more hate.
4) Accept – then Act – choosing to focus on thoughts about wishing this didn’t happen will not get you anywhere. We have to accept the reality. Our political system has produced this result and now all we can do is respond. Resisting it will not help. Giving into it will not help either. We need to act. We need to rally together. Those of us that have strong political opinions, but have avoided strong political engagement need to get more involved, even if we don’t know exactly how to at the moment. We need to continue to stand up for what we know is right. We need to magnify our sensitive, healing and compassionate voices and not be afraid to be who we are.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Martin Luther King JR.
Sending you lots of love and healing light today and everyday,
Christie
P.S. I have a very big announcement coming next week, especially for the sensitive souls out there. Can’t wait to share it with you.