With the 2024 election day here, anxiety and fear continue to escalate around us – and for many, within and between us. Many of you have expressed how you are affected by this waiting time. The stakes for many of us are very high – it matters a great deal what happens at a local and national level. While we are waiting, and as we move into whatever comes next, it is important to remember to care for ourselves and each other. With gratitude to Rev. Laura Solomon for her work on some of these materials, we offer a simple daily practice to help regulate our nervous systems and stay grounded in our faith and values.
November 5, 2024 (Election Day)
Tips for families, parents, and people of all ages:
- VOTE! (If you haven’t already.) And if you can, take your kids with you so they can experience the process.
- Engage your children/youth in the body practice below and listen to the music together. Ask them how the song made them feel, and what they thought the message was. Share your feelings and thoughts, too.
- Take breaks throughout the day to re-regulate together – through mindful snacks, breathing breaks, dancing or physical activity, or checking in emotionally.
Music, reading, and reflection:
Our music, reading, and reflection are all one today: Plowshare Prayer by Spencer LaJoye. First, center yourself with a breath. Then, listen to the song. What sensations do you feel in your body as you listen? What emotions?
Now, read the words to this song (below) aloud or silently. What do you notice as you read? What words or phrases stick out to you?
Plowshare Prayer
by Spencer LaJoye
Dear blessed creator, dear mother, dear savior
Dear father, dear brother, dear holy other
Dear sibling, dear baby, dear patiently waiting
Dear sad & confused, dear stuck & abused
Dear end of your rope, dear worn out & broke
Dear go it alone, dear running from home
Dear righteously angry, forsaken by family
Dear jaded & quiet, dear tough & defiant
I pray that I’m heard
And I pray that this works
I pray if a prayer has been used as a sword
Against you & your heart
Against you & your word
I pray that this prayer is a plowshare of sorts
That it might break you open
It might help you grow
I pray that your body gets all that it needs
And if you don’t want healing
I just pray for peace
I pray that your burden gets lighter each day
I pray the mean voice in your head goes away
I pray that you honor the grief as it comes
I pray you can feel all the life in your lungs
I pray that if you go all day being brave
That you can go home, go to bed
Feeling safe
I pray you’re forgiven. I pray you forgive
I pray you set boundaries & openly live
I pray that you feel you are worth never leaving
I pray that you know I will always believe you
I pray that you’re heard
And I pray that this works
Amen on behalf of the last & the least
On behalf of the anxious, depressed & unseen
Amen for the workers, the hungry, the houseless
Amen for the lonely & recently spouseless
Amen for the queers & their closeted peers
Amen for the bullied who hold in their tears
Amen for the mothers of little Black sons
Amen for the kids who grow up scared of guns
Amen for the addicts, ashamed & hungover
Amen for the calloused, the wisened, the sober
Amen for ones who want life to be over
Amen for the leaders who lose their composure
And amen for the parents who just lost their baby
Amen for chronically ill & disabled
Amen for the children down at the border
Amen for the victims of our law & order
I pray that you’re heard
And I pray that this works
I pray if a prayer has been used as a sword
Against you & your heart
Against you & your word
I pray that this prayer is a plowshare of sorts
Finally, listen to the song one more time. What word(s), phrase(s), and/or feeling(s) are you carrying with you? How will you use them to inform your day? How can they serve as a touchstone for you in a moment of stress or anxiety? Is there anything you need to add to this prayer?
Body practice:
Ask your body what it needs. Is there a movement or an exercise you have done this past week that felt particularly restorative or tender? Review the exercises from the past week and do the one that is calling to you. Today might be a good day to revisit several of these exercises! At some point today, be sure to ask yourself what you are feeling. It might be helpful to sit with the feelings wheel. Be sure to ask yourself what else? As you are likely experiencing more than one emotion. After identifying each feeling, tell your body thank you.
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