As if a worldwide pandemic wasn’t enough, white supremacy’s chickens have (finally!) began to click to roost and we’re all bearing the load of the fallout.
It’s hard to call yourself racist, but this is often the belief that the universe is asking of you, me, and everybody we all know . nobody escapes the grasp of racism , and therefore the time has come for everybody , especially White race , to try to to the work of uncovering internalized racism so we will collectively work towards resolution and healing.
Conversations about systemic racism, whether they’re being had within the streets at protests or with loved ones at the dining table , are draining as fuck. they're also the foremost important thing you and that i can do immediately . The protests you attend, the anti-racism memes you share, the cash you donate—sure, those are all great. But none of that basically matters unless you are doing the important work of decolonizing yourself. What does this look like? Acknowledge the racism and bigotry within yourself, watching the ways you enjoy systems of racism and anti-Blackness, and reflect that journey to others.
This is hard, emotionally complex work which will leave you in tears and questioning every aspect of your identity. But simply because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. It’s hard intentionally . We’re dismantling systemic racism, not prepping for a bake sale or deciding where to brunch.
Establishing wellness practices to take care of your energy within the face of mental, emotional, and spiritual fatigue is crucial. within the face of adversity, it’s more important than ever to experience joy. If you don’t practice joy, you'll not survive this shit. within the face of unbridled fear and anger, joy is that the revolution.
Lemme share a couple of of my favorite ways to take care of my energy and keep my head on straight when shit is simply too real.
1. Get within the shower and meditate
This is my favorite—and perhaps most frequent—meditation and every one you've got to try to to is hop within the shower.
Step 1. activate the water and obtain within the shower. Or the opposite way around; whatever floats your boat.
Step 2. Whatever you are doing from now forward, don't activate any music, podcasts, audiobooks, or the other prerecorded sounds.
I don’t care if you’ve been waiting all week to concentrate to The Michelle Obama Podcast. I know, she’s amazing and her podcast is clearly Fire. I literally don’t care—don’t turn that shit on.
Step 3. Grab your loofah, washcloth, soap, body wash, body scrub, or whatever else gets you within the mood.
Call me bougie, but I’d recommend specifically grabbing the products that cause you to feel most luxurious. now's not the time for your “I know i want to travel to focus on , but I just don’t have the energy for it” products. snatch the things that basically gets you going—favorite smells, textures, all of that.
Step 4. Lather up your loofah and obtain to scrubbing.
Step 5. Now here’s the hard part: attempt to just feel the water.
You heard me. Just feel the water. You don’t got to categorize how it feels or what it’s doing to your body or anything .
Don’t attempt to believe anything . Don’t run through your to-do list. Don’t believe what you’re getting to do once you get out of the shower. Don’t believe what you were doing before you bought within the shower. Just attempt to feel the water.
Your mind will obviously flit around to different topics—that’s normal. You’re alive in any case , and a brain that’s wide-awake will naturally flit to and from different topics. the purpose isn’t to prevent brooding about other stuff. the purpose is to only attempt to be within the moment. Just experience the water falling on your body. Feel what it seems like .
Don’t. Categorize. Your. Feelings. And if you are doing start to categorize your feelings (mad like to all of my air signs who are like, “Bitch, how am I alleged to avoid categorizing shit?!”), that’s cool too. Don’t scold yourself. You’re not doing anything wrong. Just let the sensation of the water hitting your skin bring your attention back to this moment.
Stay within the shower as long as possible. (But don’t be a dick, leave some for the fish and for, you know, the environment.) Definitely also leave some predicament therefore the remainder of your house can do a shower meditation too.
Not only will this meditation leave you squeaky clean, but it'll also offer you tons of your time to enjoy this moment rather than obsessing over the longer term and therefore the past. Connecting with the sensation of the water and its temperature, the fragrance of your body wash, the way the products slide against your skin—all of those sensations draw you into this moment in order that you’re grounded within the magic of the spectacular now.
There’s many time to obsess over the longer term and therefore the past. rather than using the shower as some time to run through mental chatter, do the other instead.
2. Go outside.
This doesn’t got to be complicated.You don’t got to choose a hike or find a park or do anything quite just walk outside of your apartment house . Bonus points if you've got access to a backyard, but we’re not all so lucky. If you don’t have a backyard or if your backyard is filled with dog poop, walk down the road until you discover the primary patch of grass that doesn’t gross you out.
Step 1. begin your shoes. begin your socks.
I know a number of y’all are weird about beginning your socks and that i want to go away space for that, but this really isn’t getting to work an equivalent if your feet aren’t completely bare. (If it helps, anyone who would ridicule of the way your feet look or smell has bigger problems in their life than your feet.)
Step 2. substitute the dirt.
Actually, don’t just stand there. Flex your toes and dig around therein shit. If you’re perched atop the grass, dig your toes underneath it and obtain to understand the soil.
Step 3. If there’s space, get on your knees or sit on your butt and if there’s even more room than that, starfish on the bottom .
I mean it, bitch. Get on your belly or your back and come around on the bottom . If you would like a image to urge you going, picture a really happy dog on the primary day of summer or a three-year-old after nap time on a summer afternoon.
Step 4. Close your eyes and open them again.
Keep ’em closed if that’s your poison. If your eyes face the sky, gaze up at the sun, moon, clouds, and/or the vast space in between all of them . absorb the bounty of the universe.
Here’s the thing. Humans are meant to be outside. But instead, we spend most of our time strapped to digital devices and trapped in air-conditioned boxes like houses and cars.
Now quite ever it’s crucial that we take conscious time to reconnect to the present earth. Reconnecting to nature reminds us that the planet is greater than what are often encompassed by our offices, homes, computers, and social media profiles.
Step 5. Now’s the time to concentrate to any books, playlists, or episodes of The Michelle Obama Podcast you’ve had queued.
But you'll also leave that for next time and luxuriate in the sound of silence for now. If you reside in an populated area or if kids and pets are competing for your attention, you would possibly like better to make noise the sound of the garbageman or your loud neighbor with some sweeter sounds. I highly recommend taking note of Spotify’s Daily Wellness playlist. i used to be skeptical of it initially , but the combination of music and meditation podcasts is typically just what the doctor ordered.
3. Hide your phone from yourself.
Okay, hide may be a strong word. You don’t got to play hide-and-seek with an inanimate object. Just put it out of sight and out of mind. i prefer to go away mine in another room or on another floor of my house. If you reside in one room, put your phone at rock bottom of a box and tuck it out of sight during a corner or a closet.
Step 1. Inhale. Exhale.
You’re gonna be okay. the planet isn't getting to collapse if you’re unplugged for a touch while. I know, it kinda seems like it'd collapse. But it really won’t.
Here’s the thing: Being plugged into your devices is fucking together with your life, big-time. Once upon a time, citizenry weren't plugged in 24/7 and I’m willing to bet that tons folks were happier or a minimum of more relaxed day-to-day than we are now. It’s important to stay on top of what’s happening within the world, but there’s a fine line between staying informed and counting on news and social media for happiness. No wonder we’re so stressed out—we’re always plugged in!
You don’t need to hide your phone for that long. nobody is timing you, and i am not gonna come by your house and judge you for getting it out of the box after five minutes of hiding it. But even five minutes without scrolling will do wonders for your psychological state .
Step 2. Find something else to try to to .
While your phone is MIA, why not grab a notebook and sketch a touch ? Or journal a little. Grab that book you’ve been aiming to read for years and check out to read only one page. If all else fails, you'll journal about what proportion you miss your phone. If you’re craving a touch exercise, practice a couple of yoga poses or see how far you'll get with the hundred push-ups challenge. If you've got to, activate the TV or binge something on Netflix. But keep that in your back pocket as a final resort.
Step 3. Keep your phone hidden.
This is the hard part: attempt to keep your phone hidden until you've got to be reminded to travel find it. But don’t sweat it if you catch on out of the box five minutes after hiding it. Most folks have come to be reliant on our phones all day a day , and that’s a damn near impossible dependence to break; all we will do is remember of them, make steps to try to to better within the future, and move forward from there.
4. Cry.
This is the foremost important thing you'll do to take care of energy. there's tons of shitty stuff happening immediately , and it’s only natural to require to cry about it. There’s also tons of lovely and amazing shit happening immediately and it’s even as susceptible to cause you to want to cry.
You don’t got to cry ahead of anyone else. Personally, I fucking hate crying ahead of people . But crying is one among the simplest ways to release shit that’s holding you back.
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