I booked my trip to a yoga ashram in the Bahamas back in November, not realizing I’d depart the day after inauguration of the evil one. Fortuitous, right? Packing up and leaving the country for a week of meditation, yoga, good food and the Caribbean was a perfect preventive step against being overwhelmed with anger and despair. So far so good.
During my week away I rarely looked at my phone and read only headlines. I badly needed a social media and news detox. Newly retired, my abundance of time coupled with a motherly compulsion to follow the LA fires and Molly’s proximity had me spending way too much time scrolling.
Scrolling is a solitary pursuit but at the ashram I was surrounded by community made up of a diverse group including students doing their teacher training, swamis, karma yogis and vacationers like myself. I managed to connect with too few of the oh-so-many interesting people during long vegetarian meals and barefoot beach walks. Every day I had deep conversations about life, the world – inner and outer – with kin spirits from all over the planet and across generations. Returning home to my quiet life did not feel lonely after so much fulfilling sociability. Inspiration still reverberates and I am reminded that community will save us.
As will art, including music, writing, plus much laughter, dance, walks, nature and most of all – love! We cannot let the monsters diminish us or our joy!
The other day Molly shared this quote to live by from C. S. Lewis written after the bombing of Hiroshima:
“If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies but they need not dominate our minds.”
The entire essay remains relevant. This passage leapt out at me as so true – just substitute recent events (or not!):
“What the wars and the weather and the atomic bomb have really done is to remind us forcibly of the sort of world we are living in and which, during the prosperous period before 1914, we were beginning to forget. And this reminder is, so far as it goes, a good thing. We have been waked from a pretty dream, and now we can begin to talk about realities.”
Current reality isn’t good. I feel like we need to stay informed, talk about and figure out what we can each do. It’s terrifying. The presidency was bought by the richest man in the world who has already staged a kind of coup – stealing private information, waltzing around like it all, we all – belong to him. Now they (think) they have us where they want us. The tech bros and the emperor (who has no clothes) are all bad. I am not clear about my own footing, where to step next – but hey – it’s the year of the snake – a time for shedding skin and re-birth. It will be uncomfortable for a time but I believe that the reality of what these creeps are trying to put into place will hopefully become apparent to the fooled ones. I believe that we’ll be okay. We’ll find a way to live – better for all. We have to.
There are so many lessons to be learned from history across the world, and in our own communities from those who have long lived under injustice and oppression. Now more than ever, in whatever ways we can, we must fight against authoritarianism, to protect the vulnerable, the earth, each other. We can do this.
Here are a few links of people and organizations I follow for factual information and guidance on how to push back. Please feel free to add your suggestions in the comments.
(Robert Reich suggests: “…you might call your senators and representatives in Congress and tell them you don’t want Elon Musk messing with your Social Security or anything else. That number is 202-224-3121.”
Thanks for your thoughtful, ans always, essay. May I also suggest Rebecca Solnit on @bluesky as a good source? She has started a newsletter and is following and commenting on events by the hour. She has great connections to help figure out what to do. I agree we’ll get through this.
You might want to read Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger on Substack. And me! But I don’t write politics much.
Thanks for sharing these resources!
Thank you. I’ve been feeling so hopeless and stressed about this situation. You have given me some hope. I needed it. Thank you.
It sounds like you had such a wonderful and beneficial time away. Ahhhh. So lovely. Both of your quotes are so good for these frightening, unnerving times. I’d like to add The Contrarian, newly launched by Jennifer Rubin (who resigned from The Washington Post) and Norm Eisen, and Joyce Vance’s Civil Discourse to your list of resources. It’s a tricky path, actually, to read these solid sources but also keep a healthy distance from what they’re covering. How to find that balance is our challenge.
Another informative and enjoyable read, thanks Tricia
Beautifully written and just what I needed Tricia; thank you!
Another resource is “Tangle” which is facts without inflammatory language. I can read it without getting a stomach ache.
You sound so calm and centered after your retreat! Good for you! Next time you’re headed in this direction, lmk. I’ll make lunch.