Welcome back! Last week we talked about Stories from the Pet File. If you missed that blog and would like to catch up, click HERE.
Our hearts are heavy at the Foundation, for many different reasons. I decided to address emotions, in order to keep us focused and centered during these tumultuous times.
This week brought out a lot of rage in my heart. I wasn’t even sure where all that rage was coming from, but there it was, staring me in the face.
The one thing that helped me, was a meditation that was posted on my friends social media page. It gave me a moment to think, to clear my head, to process that rage, and in the end, to realize that I’m just sad.
It’s a sadness that says, “how did we get here?”. It’s a sadness that says, “how could this happen?”. It’s a sadness that wants to help but doesn’t know how, in turn creating a feeling of helplessness.
The only way to know what to do, or how to support others, is to ASK. Don’t assume, don’t “take charge”, don’t push your feelings onto others, simply ask, “what can I do to be helpful in all of this?“.
I wish, as a white woman, that I could say I understand all that is going on, but I cannot. And while I cannot understand, I can still say “I stand“. I can listen to people of color and make changes in my own sphere of influence to make this country a better place for all.
Please join me in this 11 minute meditation. You may find your way through some complex emotions, and if you are lucky, you will get to actually meet a couple of them and find some peace.
Thank you to Amira Stanley for this outreach and for giving us permission to repost this amazing meditation…if you find this to be of value, please share it by clicking on the Facebook Icon down below…
Thank you <3 I love you and stand with you. #Blacklivesmatter
This was amazing . I sobbed all the way through it and rightfully so. I came out more grounded and focused. It is very hard being Empathic these days. This helped immensely and I will be meditating more. Thank you !
I have been finding myself progressively more profoundly sad deep inside over the course of the past several months.
The big events from the world around me – COVID-19, environmental destruction, the beginnings of a mass extinction event, inequities in how people treat animals and each other, and now this latest brutal assault and slaying of an innocent man who was denied the basic right to breathe…all these large events going on in the world around me have been having a profound effect on my mental health and my ability to achieve or even function normally.
And they compound the sadness I feel related to my own personal pain: The quail that I rushed to the vet yesterday after watching him be hit by a car and left to die alone on scorching hot pavement…the 50-year-old tree in my back yard that I cherish but my husband wants to kill because it is disrupting our irrigation and threatening the foundation of our pool in its quest for water in the desert where we live…the writing client who made up a damaging lie about me and threatened to spread it to other potential clients if I don’t make up positive lies about him to entice other writers (making it very difficult for me to bid for jobs)…the ongoing grief I have attached to the losses of my dad, my birth daughter who is not interested in knowing me, and the brother I didn’t ever get to meet…my resolve to finally sell the dolls that I began collecting for my birth daughter in the 1980’s because she doesn’t want them anyway.
So many sadnesses are compounding within me. Maybe that’s why I felt the need to put on my skates yesterday while listening to music from my youth. I needed to transport myself back to a happier, easier time.
This reminder to breathe in solidarity with the pain of others was necessary and welcome. It can’t erase the pain, but it can help me soldier through for another day. Or hour. Or minute.
Thank you for the meditation and the opportunity to breathe with you, Amira. And thank you for sharing the opportunity in your blog, Linda. Peace to you both. Peace to all.
Thanks for sharing.
I too stand and want to listen so that I can be a good ally for the Black Community. Thank you for continuing the conversation. Change MUST happen!
Amira, this meditation is so powerful. Thank you for sharing with us all!
#blacklivesmatter
One of my heros.. I HEAR AND SEE YOU..
Thank you for sharing this with us…
#BLACKLIVESMATTER
#ICRYWITHYOU