To play a constructive role in any situation, begin by focusing on your own internal state and well-being, as this is the most important starting point for influence.
Cultivate and strengthen your self-awareness and emotional regulation practices diligently during periods of calm, so that when a crisis hits, you can naturally fall back on your training rather than being swept away.
When experiencing strong emotions like anger or fear, notice the feeling of dysregulation without judgment or the belief that you ‘should be better,’ and instead commit to showing up to what is arising.
During overwhelming times, ensure you are doing fundamental self-care activities such as drinking water, eating food, taking breaks, resting, and disconnecting from news and social media to create space for self-nurturing.
When feeling alienated, alone, or disconnected, actively reach out to friends or loved ones and ask for help to find grounding and prevent narratives from spinning out of control.
Consciously interrupt patterns of overreacting to experiences, which allows you to access a sense of spaciousness and clarity around what is happening.
To ground yourself, physically connect with something solid like the floor or the actual earth, or internally by touching your body, noticing the sensation of your seat, or focusing on your breath, to anchor yourself in the present moment.
Actively safeguard your finite physical and psychic energy by being mindful of what you invest in, as this is crucial for sustaining important aspects of your life like relationships.
Consciously step back from people, technologies, or activities that drain your energy and do not offer replenishment, making hard choices to preserve your well-being.
While practicing self-compassion and compassion for others, assert your right to set clear boundaries and articulate how others’ beliefs or actions impact your wellness.
Instead of trying to contain anger, allow it ample space to be present in your experience, focusing on disrupting your reactivity to it rather than suppressing the emotion itself.
Experience your anger fully without reacting to it, which allows you to gather wisdom and data from its energy, enabling you to channel it constructively.
Look beneath the surface of anger to touch into the woundedness, heartbreak, and trauma that may be fueling it, both in yourself and in others.
Approach fear with the same practices used for anger, offering it spaciousness, disrupting reactivity, and experiencing it fully to gain clarity and wisdom.
Allow yourself to touch into grief, sadness, and sorrow for things that you wish were different but know will not change, accepting the reality of situations beyond your control.
Engage with others, even those with whom you disagree, in a loving, clear, and direct manner without condoning harmful actions, and avoid aggressive communication that can create defensiveness.
Promote liberation and change by inviting people to genuinely experience their underlying hurts and providing care as they do so, which can disrupt reactivity to anger and frustration.
Recognize and accept that some individuals may not have the capacity or resources to alter their deeply held beliefs or behaviors, and that this outcome must be okay.
When checking in with yourself or others during difficult times, ask questions about your physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual state to return to the present moment.
Each day, consciously ask yourself what you should be focusing on, investing your energy in, and what is truly important to ensure your efforts align with your values and well-being.
Clearly inform others about your availability and pace, such as stating you are not always accessible by text or email, to reclaim agency over your energy and time.
After experiencing traumatic events, challenge the societal pressure to immediately return to normal, advocating for time and space to collectively process the experience.
Actively seek to understand and articulate your mental and physical suffering, using tools and spaces to process it individually and collaboratively within communities.
Reflect on the idea that many people around you are experiencing similar discomfort and are doing their best with their current understanding, fostering an open heart and sensitivity.
Engage in clear conversations about how different beliefs intersect and impact each other’s wellness, moving beyond discomfort to discuss how beliefs create realities that affect well-being.
Recognize that systemic change is a long-term process and invest in working with younger generations and children to instill values that can build a more equitable and compassionate society over decades.
For white individuals, take responsibility to educate yourselves on white supremacy, engage in difficult conversations, and actively divest from systems that grant automatic privilege to disrupt existing realities.
Practice self-identifying and claiming your emotions, such as anger, to establish a sense of agency over them, which paradoxically allows you to then let them go more freely.