Do you feel it? Times are changing fast in America. The politics is over the roof crazy, Roe being rescinded and women scrambling to figure out how to fight back; guns in the hands of adolescents, climate out of control for another straight year…you know it and FEEL it in your body. The stress, the feeling of despair…

In my own neighborhood a gunman shot two cops at our 4th of July fireworks here at the Art Museum in Philadelphia. People were terrified. And we all watch the news to know what else is out there.

So now what? I am a Body Temple Coach, a Mindset Mentor for empowering women. But guess what?Women are under attack literally. Their bodies are being hijacked by glib old white guys who think they know better for ALL women what is acceptable. We have lost our way; there is no more separation of church and state, and this band of gangsters thinks they know better what is moral and right for others. I have never in my lifetime seen things go this low; I know I have dipped down into despair more than one night in this past few months, yet I know it is my job and my truth to come to a balance in all this.

So believe me when I say, I understand what you are feeling, what you are going through. Finding peace and equanimity is hard right now.

I am committed to peace in the body and mind, and compassion in the heart. For myself and for everyone. I believe with all my heart and mind that we are better than those dark shadows lurking within. It is especially when we look at our shadows that we can reveal a higher vision, and a healed vision for our lives, but we are being tested. As we slide toward the edge of the cliff and watch our democracy literally fall apart, is there something we can do? Is it personal, in the safety of our own homes, or should we instead be standing on the street corners with placards in our hands…and saying what exactly? What is the higher version of ourselves collectively? What are our Asian and European neighbors thinking about all this? What insight or direction can they offer?

I was the daughter of an Air Force career officer. I was always so proud to be an American, the melting pot for all religions and peoples. What happened? Did some decide to immigrate and close the door behind them? We Americans have been caging little brown children and separating them from their parents. I doubt that we would have done that 100 years ago. So how do we hold all of this in our awareness and still believe that we are an honorable nation? Some so called citizens have taken their prejudice and matters in their own hands and stormed our nation’s capital in a bloody insurection. These are Americans doing such evil deeds. So how can we find the high ground with our fellow Americans while knowing that they are out to get us? Indeed, that is the hard part… Not falling into duality; you know, good/bad, right/wrong for others AND for ourselves.

Part of my dilemma is the fight within myself, in pointing a finger at others and deciding that they are (fill in the blank), and so I can hate them for their ignorance and stupidity. I profess to be a healer, yet I am creating separation and duality too. I have not reconciled this.

One of my confidants has said that we are all thinking too small; by accusing the other and blaming them for their faults and ignorance is simply missing the bigger picture; that the whole world is at a critical point of destruction, and the bigger picture requires everyone to focus on climate change, and getting our world back together, if possible. To hedge off the 6th mass extinction, and bring our footprint down. To understand better how to manage food and production in these times of firestorms and drought.

In other words, to see that there is a lot of work to do to heal ourselves and our planet, and to bring our world into the planetary era…to do our part to bring true healing to ourselves and our world.

Thank you for listening. This is a slightly different post from what i usually do, but I must speak honestly about the truth I hold within me, and make a firmer commitment to “being the change I want to see in the world” (14th Dalai Lama), and in that way, looking within my own heart to see how I am part of the problem instead of part of the solution. Let’s look at our shadows, and at how we all create duality by forcing the “other” to be the bad guy. But meanwhile, we can also bring back women’s right to be sovereign over their own bodies, and get weapons of war out of the hands of 18 year olds. That means speaking up, and voting in each and every election, and taking this all very seriously, no matter what age we are. Anyone over 18 needs to vote. Let’s start now.