After The Election

It’s "go" time; there is no point in the liver fighting the spleen.

November 14, 2024

Maryn Spangler,

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Road in Monument Valley, Navajo Tribal Lands of Arizona and Utah, USA. Photo©only4k/123rf

When I woke up the morning after the election, I felt numbness, sadness, and resignation. And something surprising.

Peace. And strength.

It was as if there was an exhale and a relief of pressure. As if I had sunk to the bottom of a lake, gently floating there, supported by the most gentle of currents. At the bottom of the lake, all is stillness and quiet. It is another world. This was the quality of peace I felt. A still point. A reset. An exhale.

America chose. No matter how you feel about that choice, I invite you to just sit with that for a moment. America chose. And it was clear. It was definitive. Democracy worked exactly as intended. Now can we find it within ourselves to accept that?

There is something our society is saying that needs to be heard with empathy and curiosity, not anger and abuse. Something that needs to be met with compassion, and not judgment or shame. Let us find the inner resources necessary to listen a little more deeply to each other, to hear and honor what was calling out to be heard in this election, and to show up to uncomfortable conversations with our whole, open heart.

When I woke up Wednesday morning, I felt a strength emerging from within me. Not strength for a coming battle. It was a strength of spirit. The strength of light and rootedness. The strength needed to hold empathy and curiosity, which frankly I believe needs more strength than fighting does. It felt like there were parts of my essence that were being called forward that I hadn’t even known were there. Parts of me that were tailor-made to meet the needs of this time. I felt an inner nod, a rolling up of my sleeves. “Yep, here we are. Now let’s get to work.”

And so, I put my shoes on and went on a pilgrimage around my town. I decided it wasn’t a day to be a hermit, no matter how tempting that might have been. I went to the DMV. I went to REI. I went to the supermarket, the bookstore, the community coffee house. I drove around, following my heart, walking wherever I felt called. Where I went, I loved. I looked people in the eye, and smiled. I asked them how they were doing. I made jokes. I put my hands on the store walls and offered love into the spaces, the furniture, all the merchandise. I sat in the coffee house and offered the strength of my roots to my community hub, just being present with all who came in.

All of these were small moments, but they were not small actions. It’s the simple everyday moments of our life and relationships where blessing emerges. Change happens in the present moment, not in some “out there” distant future. It happens right now, in the choices we make with each breath. And with each breath, I choose to answer the call of love. I choose to weave a web of blessing with the environments that are available to me, the places I live and work, and the people I meet on the street.

You are a unique expression of the sacred. You have the capacity to bless, to generate love, to energize a space or a relationship with the light within you.

Now do it. It’s go time.

Today, I send love to my community, and a call: You have within you exactly the resources you need. You were made for this time. Choose love and kindness, joy and humor. Choose curiosity and deep, wholehearted listening. And finally, remember we are together. America is one body. Let’s act like it. There is no point in the liver fighting the spleen.

Maryn Spangler is Communications Director and faculty member for the Lorian Association. She weaves an ingrained Incarnational Spirituality perspective into a decade of study and practice in the fields of mental, emotional and physical healing. Read more of the Lorian blog at www.lorian.org.