How lucky were we to have John Lewis in this world, showing up for disadvantaged people everywhere, making “good trouble” in the streets and in Congress for the duration of his life.
Continue readingCategory Archives: reminders
Showing Up
In case you’ve got protest fatigue, in case you’re questioning the impact this is all having, in case you’re feeling overwhelmed – here’s a growing list of reforms that are a direct result of what’s happening right now. In other words: no protests, no reforms.
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How to Quarantine
The rain surrounded the cabin … with a whole world of meaning, of secrecy, of rumor. Think of it: all that speech pouring down, selling nothing, judging nobody, drenching the thick mulch of dead leaves, soaking the trees, filling the gullies and crannies of the wood with water, washing out the places where men have stripped the hillside…. Nobody started it, nobody is going to stop it. It will talk as long as it wants, the rain. As long as it talks, I am going to listen.
From “Rain and the Rhinoceros” by Thomas Merton, 1966
*I discovered Merton reading David Abram’s masterpiece, “The Spell of the Sensuous”
**More on Merton in this lovely tribute by Doug Toft
***Photo by Joe Gardner
The Time That Is Given Us
“Mordor. That name even you hobbits have heard of, like a shadow on the border of old stories. Always after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again.”
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
The Moral of the Story
Look to the irony in any story and you’ll find the moral, the gospel, the very reason for that story existing in the first place. We’re all quarantined from one another, but maybe this is happening to remind us just how connected we all are. Maybe this interconnectedness is a really hard moral for us as humans to learn. We elected a president whose entire m.o. is to vilify “the other”. Fox News is built on this. It’s infuriating to learn about all the folks right now ignoring the calls for social distancing, but the harsh reality is that a lot more people are going to have to get sick and a lot more people are going to have to die before we start to learn the moral of this story. We are truly all connected, aren’t we? Even the president’s wall can’t save us.
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Self Care in the Time of Corona
Yes, by all means, breathe in the light. Yes, absolutely, focus on the positive. Pull out the crystals, light up the sage. Keep yourself safe. But don’t bypass what you’re feeling right now. This is the moment. Scary, messy, uncertain, full of potential. You were made for this, remember? You are no stranger to trauma. This is your wheelhouse. A natural healer, you are well equipped to thrive. Trust.
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Letter to a Young Activist During Troubled Times
I was home sick with a cold today. On the couch for hours watching movies, scrolling through the socials, in a grumpy, sneezy, dopey malaise. (Where is Doc and Happy when you need them?) There’s something about being sick that amplifies my insecurities. The shadow swoops in when I am weak, whispering – Poor you, So frail, So small, You will never accomplish the things you desire, Why bother, The world is on fire, No one cares… Nothing you do matters.
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Where you headed, boo?
Life is motion. We are always going somewhere, even when we’re running from something else. We are always pointed at something. The future meets us with surprise or expectation, depending on how conscious or unconscious we are in the present. Every moment is an opportunity to check in and ask, where am I focused, where am I headed?
The Magician
Instagram is The Magician. The OG trickster. The sleight of hand illusionist. Instagram (and WordPress and most of the rest of the internet) does a bang up job of making it appear that everyone else has got it all worked out, everyone else knows exactly who they are, everyone else’s brand is always on brand.
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How much time did you spend consuming?
