I am often jolted by what occurs in these Divided States of America.
Jolted by those little indicators, the in your face reminders, and an occasional gut punch. All of these experiences point to the deep seeded, historical inequity between people. They remind you of the polarization between people, groups, parties, and communities. Not just in our country, nor only in this time.
You just can’t miss it. Unless you do.
And we have. For centuries. That’s why it’s so important to stay awake to the societal injustice at every level of interaction. To understand why racism is a huge public health issues. And how being a minority creates risk for disease due to disparity in every system: environmental, food, medical care, safety, education, financial, gender equality, mental health, and the list goes on.
The haves and the have nots. The battles between groups for power, survival, rights, recognition, life.
I hope we don’t go back to sleep. We’ve been unconscious long enough. I pray we stay alert to the subtle ways we harm one another. And the small to big steps we may take toward reparation and healing. Every day.
I hope we remain aware, become educated, and learn to have meaningful conversations. Open and willing to stop when we become defensive or assaultive. To take a breather and find the space within us that just got activated. To clean that up. And try that conversation one more time.
Sometimes it is so overwhelming that you just gotta hit the pause button.
Here’s the thing about my blindness. I grew up in white suburbia. With liberal, compassionate parents. In the Northeast region of the US. Exposed to different cultures and friends in different neighborhoods and different countries. Once I graduated college and throughout my adult life, I was entrenched in communities with people who faced all of the disadvantages and struggles to survive that we are hearing about.
Systemic racism was the way of life and affected them on every level.
My work, professional relationships, and friendships invited me to participate in many meaningful, uncomfortable conversations. My travels led me to places on the planet that would break me in sorrow. All this led to tiny actions with the intent to support, respect, join, and empower. In all of these experiences, I was aware of what was most primary.
I saw them as people. Different than me in ways. Similar to me in ways.
So I was prepared to be uncomfortable, disturbed even, when my husband and I recently watched the movie, Just Mercy. I just didn’t expect so many sucker punches or to have my blinders ripped off so violently.
I needed to hit the Pause button just to breathe. A few times.
Haunted by what happened when an attorney first went to the jail to see his clients, my sleep and mind was disrupted. A simple sentence. Pause. The collusion of individuals in a racist system. Pause. The way a life could be discarded on a whim. Pause. I was shocked when I recognized that in these Divided States of America people think and act the way they did in that movie. Not just back then. Now. In lots of places.
Intellectually I know this. Yet, my blindness and sleepiness lulled me back into my tiny world.
Where people see each other as people. And, as long as you don’t venture too far out of your neighborhood, you don’t witness the subtle – overt ways people are mistreated. Every day. In our time. It’s easy to stay in this little bubble. I’ve certainly been living in mine.
So you don't see, nor look for, the harsh, shameful, and deeply dehumanizing way "we the people" are treating "you the other people."
If I’m overwhelmed and need a pause to recalibrate, I wonder what it must be like for you. You who are similar to me and different from me. You who are in the mainstream and you who are on the fringes.
I hope you use the Pause button to find the places in you that contributes to the problem. I hope you cure your blindness. I hope you enter the uncomfortable conversations and take the perpetual tiny-big actions that lead to change. I hope you are shocked into recognition that we have a lot to answer for. I hope you enter into a commitment to stay awake.
I am with you.
To truly change a system, you must change your own system. All of your “training” as a human is encoded in your subtle energy system which supports the habits and beliefs of your subconscious mind. And this combination drives your behavior, decisions, point of view, and reactions. So, blindness is a natural human experience that “we the people” share. Knowing that your tendency to be blind to what is happening around you (and through you) is part of your foundation gives you the power to change this.
Change on the surface is good. Change in your influential energy structure and subconscious belief system is even better.
This is how the “be the change you want to see in the world” really gets some traction. To shift from the inside out. At the purest levels of influence – the subtle energy system and the subconscious mind. Where you don’t think, you just act. And when you do attempt change and find you drift back into an old habit – let’s say blindness or apathy – it’s because these energetic and belief habits have a strong gravitational pull.
I’ve got a gift for you that just might help effect some change.
I’m sharing a meditation I just offered to the community of The Center for Conscious Living. (I love that name and the intent behind it. Seems especially germane to what I’m writing.) Scroll down for the link.
I never know what will emerge when I “live stream” a meditation for a group. I’ve been guided by the higher wisdom to realize that this streaming message is a beautiful offering from the combined intent of the group I am meditating with. I need only open and allow the energy, message, and healing light flow through me. With a receptive group, the power of the healing potential amplifies.
I’ve also learned how inclusive this streaming, healing wisdom truly is.
There is never an us and them. Unlike human conversations which identifies difference between species, people, communities, countries, haves/have nots, this Divine Wisdom reminds you of one thing and one thing only.
How precious and essential you are. As an aspect of Wholeness, you are wanted, cherished, and critically important.
(Just not so special in the “I’m more special or less special than you” way of disempowering yourself or the other).
I hope you enjoy this gift which offers a way to harmonize a divided system so you can be a stronger unifying force. It’s all about you here. I hope you let the energy, the light, and the message have it’s way with you. I hope this mantra becomes your own and reverberates throughout the planet. Empowering safety, inclusion, empowerment, and healing for all essential, precious aspects of Wholeness.
I am with you.
Peace be with you and with all. No exceptions.
HeartWarming
News
Silent Book Club. It’s a thing. With 40 chapters across the US, there are monthly meet ups in parks, coffee shops, and other public spaces. You bring the book, a desire to socialize, and an intent to read. Some love to read. Some want to read but can’t do it on their own. It’s a way to connect socially while reading. It’s been shown to lower stress, improve efficiency of information processing, and building empathy. It may not be the same over ZOOM or social distancing in a park. Here’s hoping the creativity which started Silent Book Club will keep it going.