The morning after the election results came in was intense for me. I woke up at 3:30am to the results and began to process them in my meditation practice. Yet it was clear that it would take some time because sensations of shock, fear, hatred, and anger swirled within my psyche as I began to prepare my daughter's lunch. I realized that these sensations were from my own feelings and shared by many millions of Americans that morning.
My seven year old daughter, Jap Preet, hopped down the stairs, a young, lovely girl, full of joy and hope. As we sat down to eat, my husband and I did not speak of the elections. Instead the three of us talked about Jap Preet's upcoming birthday party.
Then it was time to go to school and my husband asked our daughter to take her vitamins and put her coat and boots on for the day. I grabbed her lunch bag from the kitchen and brought it to the front door and as I set it down next to her back-pack she whizzed by me with a big piece of chalk in her hand and shot out the front door.
"Where are you going?" I asked. "We've got to get going to school!"
A little tingle of frustration danced in my belly. I needed to go somewhere but my daughter just shot out the front door without seeming to hear me. Before I knew it, my daughter and I were in the car and we made it to school on time. She hopped off to the playground with the other children. Two mothers hugged each other in consolation. Gloomy parents and happy children. That was the mood.
Later that morning my husband and I took a walk, a loop around our southern New Hampshire neighborhood. Old stone walls line the streets, and there are many trees among the quiet houses.
I was angry. I yelled into the air, like the wind that was rustling all the late fall leaves here and there,
"Why isn't the environment an important issue for everyone?"
"We are all going to be affected if we can't breathe the air or drink the water! Let's create jobs with renewable energy and get off our dependence on oil!"
As the road climbed a big hill through maple trees and evergreens, my husband listened to me patiently along with those big trees.
"And putting a wall up to separate us from Mexico, the deportation of illegal immigrants which would break up families, taking away a woman's right to abortion, none of this is alright with me!"
"Having a president who insults people of different religions, has demonstrated terrible behavior to women, and seems to lose his temper regularly, is just not acceptable to me!" I shouted out as I stomped on a dead leaf.
Finally, we made it to the top of the hill and I yelled out into the quiet neighborhood.
"Who would vote for someone like this?"
With my words still ringing out into the blue morning sky, my eyes fell, like a falling leaf, to a sign in the yard of a big New England style white farmhouse that read,
"Trump."
And there was my answer. My neighbors had voted for this man. My neighbors. Who are these people I asked myself? And I realized in that moment that I didn't know them or why they voted for Trump.
"So what do we do?" I asked my husband, as we walked into our driveway.
And just then something caught our attention, and we both looked. It was our daughter's hand-writing, clear as anything, with the letters written backwards.
"Love."
That's what it said, or sang. I felt my daughter's spirit, and 50 million angels in full chorus sing,
We've got to love.
We've got to listen.
We've got to stand up
Be strong
Be who we are
Be peace.
Be Love.
We can do this, folks. I said it last week, before I knew the results of this election, and I say it again. I'll keep saying it. We can do this, folks.
Maybe once we know each other and listen to each other, we can understand how to meet each other’s needs with creative solutions that benefit all of us. The truth is that if we continue as a divided America, we will only see-saw back and forth from one party to the next with no real progress for anyone.
We will most definitely be asked to stand up and raise our voices. But, for any real change to occur, we have to rise above the hatred, anger and fear that got us into this mess. These emotions are to guide us to consciousness and not to act upon. When we act upon our consciousness we open the heart.
The reality is that we are each beings of light. All of us. Even the ones who voted for Trump and even Trump himself.
Try it out. Come from this place. It is a damn strong feeling.
The good news is that we have yoga and meditation.
Please do your practice. Keep strong. Invite your friends to chant and meditate with you. Open your doors for those who need the comfort and help.
There is a powerful global healing meditation happening right now with my dear friend Ajeet Kaur. It started on election day, but it is never too late to join. It is to feel oneness of heart. Please see this link to join.
Sending you love and light.