Ways to Care for Yourself as You Care for the World

Dear friends,

Mirabai Starr suggests ways to care for yourself as you care for the world.  This is an excerpt from her writings: 

The violence and heartbreak in the world are not showing any signs of going away, at least not anytime soon. We need to stay vigilant and plugged in, while also pacing ourselves for the long haul.

I am gathering resources in a basket in my mind so that I can pull one out whenever I need to replenish. In this vessel I keep:

• - breathing exercises (Check out the blockbuster book, Breath by James Nestor and Black People Breathe by Zee Clarke for specific practices);
• - silent sitting meditation, including mantra practice;
• - yoga asanas;
• - music playlists my friends make for me, which sometimes lead to dancing!
• - vigorous walks in the mountains (and forests, deserts, beaches and city parks);
• - 8+ hours of sleep a night (or at least resting in bed);
• - warm baths with essential oils and salts;
• - artistic expression (writing, drawing, clay);
• - cooking and eating yummy, healthy food, shared with family and friends;
• - FUN (movies, intimacy with my partner, spontaneous adventures);
• - sharing my vulnerability with people I trust;
• - cuddling my dogs;
• - reading good poetry and literary fiction.

How are you caring for yourself as you care for the world?

Peace, Bernie

I knit, embroider and cook while listening to audiobooks.  I visit with friends, exercise in water and help people in need by doing things for them that they cannot do themselves. When it gets warmer, I will garden.

When I am wiped out emotionally, I connect with acquaintances who are fighting for human rights and peace to regain hope. I find that spending 30 minutes at Kibbutz Blinken  is quite rejuvenating.  Doing something, anything, to stop the genocide is both taxing and calming to me so as  to feel that I still have agency in this insane world. 

As for you Jonathan, let’s talk about Tai Chi. I would be interested in learning it

Peace, Najla

As many have said, this is such a wonderful thread; thank you, Bernie, for your post, which clearly resonated with so many. 

In addition to the items already posted, I would say I am greatly sustained by an early morning yoga, meditation, and prayer practice; I feel like it helps me center myself for the day, and remember (over and over) what my intentions are. 

Walking in the woods, slowly, a la Thich Nhat Hanh, is also a powerful experience - there I sense the ever-evolving mystery of life and death; beauty and loss intertwined. 

And listening to devotional music (of all traditions) is also helpful - engaging a different part of my brain as I listen to music, and engaging my heart listening to the sense of devotion.  All this helps to interrupt patterns of over-work/over-thinking/over-consuming of information that can constrict - perhaps just subtly - the heart.

From Stephanie K.