How Are You Getting Through?
Last week at about this time, I hit some kind of wall. It's not that this kind of thing hasn't happened before, but in our 'new world' it all seems heightened. I didn't post last Friday because I ran out of things to say, ran out of any sort of creative urge. This endeavour seemed futile and I felt fragile and small and exhausted and depleted. But a friend had reminded me of the website Lion's Roar, and I visited a few of my usual internet feel good places over the weekend and had a bit of time to work on my writing project/novel. I hid for a few days, in all honesty. I read good books (see previous post) and I stayed away from social media.
So I thought I'd share a few things that I've found useful. The article on Lion's Roar titled, 5 Ways Not to Bite the Trump Hook by Susan Piver is good. I particularly like this:
Rather than scanning the environment for confirmation or denial of your worst fears, scan it for someone who could use a kind word or glance. It can be that simple.
Piver notes that "generosity is a gesture of power" which I think is a profound truth.
I also found some useful thinking in How to #StayOutraged Without Losing Your Mind by Mirah Curzer, including this:
No matter what your passion is, there’s a way to use it for good and have a great time doing it.
Back to the Lion's Roar, you might have already come across the phrase, "Right Now, It's Like This" and Rod Meade Sperry writes about the meditation here. From the article:
"Right now, it’s like this” is an invitation to explore what is present. At the same time, it clearly reassures us that impermanence is hard at work. So even though the mind threatens me with the idea that “it’s going to be like this forever,” this phrase helps me call bullshit on that.
““Right now, it’s like this” is an invitation to explore what is present.”
My usual habit has been to click on the links to the pages I like in my Facebook feed. I follow sites like On Being for example on FB. But these days I'm trying to just go directly to the pages and bypass FB. Seems simple, but means I'm getting to the stuff I want and need to read more quickly. In recent article titled "I'm Done Drinking the Draught of Despair," John Metta begins, "I'm out." He talks about signing out of Twitter and instead using his energy for writing for the resistance. I think a lot of us have felt that we need to read every single article, to be a witness to the insanity and inhumanity, and while I still think that's important, as he says, "Overall, when looking outward, I am limiting myself so I can stay informed without drinking the entire draught of despair."
Other advice? Look at art. Read a classic you've always been meaning to dip into. Have a Netflix binge. Learn something new. Make something: a cake, a piece of pottery, a scarf. Read poetry. Walk your dog. Go outside.
That said, we've been watching the Italian detective series Nardone, which I brought home from the library. I've been re-reading poems I love. Writing. And trying out "right now, it's like this" in conjunction with "nevertheless, she persisted" as my current mantra.
How about you? How are you getting through?
