Post-election mindfulness practice for a freeze response

We freeze because we are unsure, confused, and overwhelmed. Mindfulness can help us observe our thoughts, and reclaim our sense of purpose. If you’re feeling stuck, unsure, or even frozen post election, you’re not alone. This is a normal response when things feel overwhelming.

Try this mindfulness practice: Start by taking in full breaths. Picture the breaths expanding your lungs, nourishing your mind, and releasing any tension throughout those stuck or frozen parts of your body. Notice places of tension. Next, identify the point of confusion. Ask yourself in the quiet moment what about the confusion feels the most overwhelming? Name any feelings that are attached to that confusion. Breathe into the confusion. After naming, can you identify a few steps that will help decrease the confusion? Perhaps it is resourcing yourself to decrease the confusion, or letting go of an expectation or obligation. Through cultivating awareness, realize you have unique gifts to bring forward, even in difficult days.

When we can come back to the basics of mindfulness practice, we start by re-balancing and healing ourselves. Then, we can engage with the world and relate to others with compassion, empathy, while also holding space for our own disappointments, fears and worries. It is a both/and. Mindfulness practice helps us realize the good and the bad, the truths and untruths. You can hold space for both, and it is necessary and good, so you are able to move forward with courage, resilience, and love.

The world needs you to unfreeze to center back into love. Let love be your labor through wisdom and courage.