Well, well, well… the world is fucked but its ok because so am I.

For the past few years..I didn’t know if I should continue with activism, my podcast or even teaching yoga. At one point or another, I took a break from all of those things only to realize that I wasn’t pausing to hold space, I was pausing because I was afraid.

Afraid of wasting my time, preaching and preaching some more to an audience that just wanted to hate. The truth is, I was wasting my time because I wasn’t allowing things to simply be true for me. I was just trying to grab folks by the shoulders and say “don’t be dumb!”

Some time has passed, the world has flipped upside down in a matter of 7 weeks and here’s what I know. People were listening to what I had to say, I was reaching people, they just didn’t care. We now know that the entire world is capable of communicating effectively, more or less, some people are just……we’ll call it living a state of ‘mis-knowing’. I don’t fault them for it though, no really.

Do I have boundaries, you’r damn straight, but I also recognize that at the end of the day most of us have the same intention. Think back to 2017 when half the world wept after Trump was elected. I remember waking up for work, looking at my phone and then I’m pretty sure my jaw actually hit the floor. What a shit show.

Facebook was a war zone and my friends were devastated. Later that week I did a yoga workshop and the teacher, Jules Febre, asked us to think of the person we disliked the most. He got us all riled up then he said, “dedicate your practice to that person” and I swear that moment changed me forever.

I began to realize that Trump supporter or not most of us voted with the same rooted intention, for the love and wellbeing of our family and country.

It was then that, for the first time in my life, I softened. This isn’t to say I didn’t harden back up a little bit in the 4 years since that day, but I can never un-feel that moment. Having a baby turns your to mush though, so its safe to say I’m the biggest softy on the block these days.

Ripple effects are so underrated, a year later in my 500-hour teacher training my mentor says to me, “don’t run away from the darkness inside of you, welcome it with compassion.”

What. Did that just blow your mind because it did for me. Think about Yin and Yang, each have the eye of the other within them. Once I stopped resisting the pain and the uncertainty, I gained control over it and discovered new value within myself.

The truth is, when you know a little about a subject, you tend to speak with more confidence than someone who knows a lot about the same subject. Why? Its obvious isn’t it? Once you learn more about something you realize you don’t know shit.

You are the subject I’m getting to here. Don’t judge yourself by this season or this headspace or a moment because it doesn’t define you.

Feel the pain, sit with it, question it, learn from it. Practice Asteya, one of the Yamas on the eight-limb path of yoga. It means non-coveting or non-stealing. What happens when your friend is crying? You say, its ok don’t cry. Instantly robbing her of that natural emotion.

Don’t run away, welcome the darkness inside of you with compassion.

For more on this subject check out Season 2, Episode 1 of my podcast, MINDFUL GIRL. She’s available on any podcast streaming platform.

xoxo

Jenelle B. Glenn

themindfulgirl.com