Emotional Ricochet

Be aware that turning off the distractions may cause feelings to arise

As a side bar to the “introduction” to my book project which I just posted this morning, I wanted to share some thoughts about recalibrating the nervous system. You’ll hear many versions of this all over the internet and the land of “pod” these days. I am super glad that so many are offering their wisdom. Here’s one to sample:

Holding onto our sanity and our humanity in this time seems like a priority, but I recognize that figuring out the best strategy for that “holding”can be fucking hard. I, like many people, have often wanted to numb out in relation to the violent images and words that are arriving at a breakneck speed. So I am deliberately slowing down my life - at least relatively speaking. Friends who know me well will say, my slowing down is all relative…yes, I am often referred to as “busy bee.”

I recognize that this busy-ness is one of my trauma responses. When I slow down and do my morning meditation, looking out at the elder magnolia tree, Auntie Maggie, I can see that she is about to bloom too early. Yes, the feeling that this observation provokes adds to my climate grief, but I understand that I need to feel these feelings if I’m going to stand strong in this moment. It has taken me a lifetime to learn that actually feeling the discomfort, not just painting it, dancing it, singing it, or writing it is required. So many lessons; they arrive when they arrive.

I know from years of working with my own catastrophic thinking that staying alive to what’s present is a daily practice. Not going into panic is essential work and finding the places where you can steady yourself is crucial. Not easy at all when one’s attention can get absorbed by all manner of bullshit (of course, a spam call interrupted that last sentence). The discipline is to remember that you have the capacity to focus on where you can make change while allowing the grief and rage to flow. That keeps one’s humanity front and center.

If you want to follow a daily guided meditation to ground you, I have two recommendations - one is currently free - the Chani App (she’s offering it with the code SUPPORT30 to give you 30 days for free). I use it daily. I supplement it with different guided meditations from Plum Village. It is free as well. And sometimes just sitting in silence (a real privilege, I know) is the best medicine.

My friend, Magdalena Gomez, has recently created another venue for her powerful voice on Substack (I recommend getting a paid subscription to The Courage of Being). Her most recent post , Muted Rage Kills, might be useful to the readers here.

And sometimes just being with a favorite tree and some favorite neighbors is enough.