We are so grateful to all folks who are creating the #UUtheVote service and activities for this coming Sunday.
Many of us have been watching and preparing for this election and SCOTUS season. And many of us are alarmed at what we are witnessing. Nora Rasman, Democracy Strategist for the Unitarian Universalist Association, (UUA) wrote yesterday, ” As we grapple with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision regarding presidential immunity, we remain committed to the work of safeguarding democracy so that everyone, including communities that are often disenfranchised, will have a chance to cast their vote. Unitarian Universalist congregations are places where we can make meaning together and build community in the most pivotal times. Find your people. Circle up.”
In these times that can be so very concerning, know that you aren’t alone in your worry and fear. A great antidote is to get involved and more deeply connected to others who want things to be better:
1. Show up. This Sunday will be a fantastic chance to learn more and be part of the UUtheVote campaign. Democracy thrives when people show up and participate.
2. Connect with others. Choose at least one way to participate in this year’s #UUtheVote efforts. Helping others participate in democracy, even if we don’t necessarily agree on every point, also strengthens people’s investment in democracy and it becomes less vulnerable to fascism and totalitarianism.
3. Devote some time to beauty. Notice the Earth. Spend time in a place that restores your sense of self. Make art. Listen to music. Or listen to art and make music!
4. Spread kindness. Do something kind for someone else. Express gratitude. Share time with people, places, or ideas that increase your sense of hope and/or bring you joy and tell them you appreciate them, love them, feel better around them. (whatever is true for you)
5. Rest. These next few months are going to be a wild ride, however it unfolds. We will need to pace ourselves and ‘take shifts for the revolution’ as the Rev. Ashley Horan once said.
If you are feeling a little worried or terrified or frazzled, lean in to the above practices and notice if any of them shift you to a more balanced place in the present-which is the only place we can make change happen. Focusing only on the past or the future often brings suffering.
We will be taking some time for Study Leave this summer and hopefully a little vacation to engage in several of these practices. Returning to this breath, breathing in…breathing out… we can act from a centered place amidst the maelstrom of political jockeying. Take good care of yourselves and one another.
With care, and in faith~ Rev. Lynn & Rev. Wendy