As I sat down to figure out what I wanted to write today, as we head into a post-election world, a strong pull to speak about moving forward arose within me.
As I thought about what this might look like, three important pieces came forward that I wanted to share with you, no matter who you voted for and how you are perceiving our country’s election results.
What I write below are pieces we need to put into practice to create a more cohesive and loving world.
We must move out of being right and into being kind.
Here’s how:
1.See another’s humanity.
Whether we agree with someone or not, there’s a person standing in front of us (or on the other side of the screen), with feelings and a heart.
They may have challenges you don’t know about that have shaped (or hardened) them in a certain way, but meeting them where they are never has, nor will, change anything.
Instead, if you can, and I know this can be hard at times, see their humanity.
One tool I love for this, especially when I’m triggered, is to place my hard on my heart and breathe into it. This helps me to remember to be kind and compassionate. This helps me to remember that we’re all connected. This helps me to remember there’s another human being there, too.
2.Honor our differences.
We can get taught at a very young age that our differences are bad or wrong. In part, this was programming learned hundreds or thousands of years ago to keep us safe. After all, if we didn’t recognize another’s differences, we might get hurt or die.
Now, though, the same doesn’t apply. With this, just because someone is different or has a different view from you, doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with them or you.
So, how do we do this?
For me, when I find this coming up, I notice my discomfort in my body, getting as present with it as possible.
Then, I turn up the dial on it, feeling my discomfort to its full extent.
Once, and even while I do this, I breathe into my body. Doing this not only helps to create more space, but it also rewires this in my body, so that the next time this comes up for me, I have more space and comfort.
3.Have more conversations.
The final piece I’m going to talk about today is having more conversations. Can you get curious about another’s stance versus drawing a line and assuming they’re bad or wrong?
This takes practice, but the more we do this, the more we invite open, honest and understanding people into our lives.
For me, as part of this, I invoke curiosity. This can include wondering why they think or feel the way they do, and even asking some version of, “Can you tell me more about that?”
As I do this, I soften my heart and keep my body open, noticing what comes up in me as they share their experience or opinion.
With this, I find the more I can stay in curiosity and out of judgment, again, remembering their humanity, not only does this help my relationship with that person, but the better I feel and the less my day gets derailed.
This last part is so important, as how many times have you allowed a conversation to completely upset your day? When we do this, we choose them over us. Instead, when I can keep my end goals in mind, which often include connection and feeling good, my interactions go a lot better.
And, these pieces, my friends, will not only bring us into the next phase of our life and relationships, but into the next phase of our world and humanity, which was always where our former political climate was meant to take us.