Now What?

I don’t know about you, but this month I have been vacillating between deliberate ignoring of media and news to avoid panic, and dipping in a bit at a time only to note that, yep. It really is that bad.

What should other people do? I don’t know. I can share what I am doing, and can also share that it appears to be working in that I am still functional, still working for what I believe in, and able to get out of bed every day. Will any of these things help you, or the world? Your guess is as good as mine. But here we go.

These are the actions I take externally:

I give financially to established, well-respected national organizations for human rights. I also give to international organizations for the environment. I give to political campaigns that are key races. In this way, I know I am adding meaningful resources to people and institutions who know a lot more than I do about how to change the world politically and otherwise. I am not a political analyst. I don’t need to be. I give so that those who are best at what they do have the support that they need to make the changes I would like to see.

I continue to work to make ISEE inclusive and representative of all groups and people. This means hiring, staffing, vendors, and scholarships as well as class content. Are we speaking to all people? Are we highlighting historically unheard voices? Are we creating truly expansive content, inspiring people to see themselves reflected and represented and able to do the same in their work? These are my goals as ISEE’s founder. I hope we meet them more and more closely over time.

I read The Week magazine. This is a weekly publication that I get in print, not digitally, so that I am not tempted to deep dive too often into issues over which I have no control. This magazine chooses articles from all political standpoints, informing me of the opinions of voices from all sides. I don’t want to be in an echo chamber. I don’t read news every day. When something really important happens, someone I know always alerts me. If there is an issue that I feel I need to read about daily, I can tune in digitally. This keeps me in better mental and emotional health for the people around me and the students, staff and faculty that I work for.

I surround myself with beauty as much as I can. I spend time in the natural world, and I take it in slowly and deliberately. I enjoy every step as a practice of meditation. I am not separate from the world, from the earth, from others. I am part of it all, and as such, taking in beauty impacts not only me but those around me. If I am calmer, I am making a difference in a positive way.

Service to others. I spend time calling friends and family, reaching out to people that I know are feeling low. This gets me out of myself and reminds me that I have control over my actions, even if I can’t change other people.

I added BlueSky. We are also looking into how we can phase out certain platforms of our social media presence. We will also make much better use of the ISEE Online Community on Mighty Networks, which is not policed by billionaires who have toxic connections and deeply selfish, destructive intentions.

These are some of the actions that I take internally:

“This too, shall pass.” I use this phrase like a mantra. All good things must come to an end, but so must all bad ones. The in-between is a bitch. But the pendulum will swing back. It always does.

“Anything can happen. Everything can change overnight.” I had this thought in my head and it was scaring the hell out of me, until I realized that it also means…oh right. Anything can happen. Everything can change overnight. I MUST imagine things turning around, not just a little, but on a huge scale and in beautiful, unpredictable ways. I must because focusing on fear creates a paranoid world, and that is what got us here in the first place. We need positive imaginings, positive visualization, from as many people on a daily basis as possible. If we cannot imagine it, it cannot happen. If we imagine it, it can and often does.

I meditate for at least 12 minutes a day. This calming of my mind and focusing on peace brings me joy and hope. I like Insight Timer, but I hear that the Calm app is also pretty wonderful.