Today, wherever you are and however you are
whether you breathe deep or shallow, try to breathe the best you can as you read this. 
 
We are looking through the portal beyond today. We do not know and cannot know what happens next. Yet, despite the clench of fear or anxiety, whether angry or hopeless, we look to history and to nations across the globe to witness where some of the most powerful voices are:

They say breathe…

But perhaps in times like this
all you can do is pant or wheeze or gasp—
...What if you close your eyes.  

Put your right hand on your heart,  your left hand on your stomach 
...Your life is even deeper than your breath.
Think what makes your heart smile.

We are in a time of great turbulence. There is a trance of darkness and confusion that can rob goodness from the soul.

Inside however, the body tells the real story.

We may contract or sleep ourselves into numbness. However, it is only an illusion of safety.

But listen.

On Solstice, in my neighborhood, I participate in a Guatemalan ritual called Quemar el Diablo. In the silence of the darkness, I light a fire outside and write on little papers all I wish to give to the fire: resentments, grievances, the longing for justice, grief and sorrow, the unfinished business of a life. I hold this small and fevered planet, with all its chaos and all its beauty. I try to reckon with what I cannot fix. I light the fire to try to put some intention into the flame: more empathy, more generosity, more courage to be in truth, speak more truth, more coming to terms without capitulation and despair, to find joy, not just distraction, to laugh despite the evidence otherwise in the chaos of politics, to embrace not knowing in whatever form it takes.