Election Week Grounding Practices: November 7

Now that the 2024 election has passed, our anxiety and fear have not abated. The stakes for many of us remain very high and we feel the coming danger acutely. As we move into the next phase of organizing together to survive, 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.

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November 7, 2024: Reading and reflection

First, center yourself with a breath. Then, read the poem silently to yourself. What sensations do you feel in your body as you read? What emotions?

Then, read the poem aloud – to yourself, to a loved one, to a pet. What do you notice as you read the poem again? What words or phrases stick out to you?

In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa
by Ada Limón 

Arching under the night sky inky 
with black expansiveness, we point 
to the planets we know, we  

pin quick wishes on stars. From earth, 
we read the sky as if it is an unerring book 
of the universe, expert and evident.  

Still, there are mysteries below our sky: 
the whale song, the songbird singing 
its call in the bough of a wind-shaken tree.  

We are creatures of constant awe, 
curious at beauty, at leaf and blossom, 
at grief and pleasure, sun and shadow.  

And it is not darkness that unites us, 
not the cold distance of space, but 
the offering of water, each drop of rain, 

each rivulet, each pulse, each vein. 
O second moon, we, too, are made 
of water, of vast and beckoning seas. 

We, too, are made of wonders, of great 
and ordinary loves, of small invisible worlds, 
of a need to call out through the dark. 

Finally, read the poem one more time (either aloud or silently).

What word(s), phrase(s), and/or feeling(s) are you carrying with you from this poem? How will you use them to inform your day? Can they serve as a touchstone for you in a moment of stress or anxiety? Maybe you write a word or phrase on a post-it note and put it somewhere where you will see it regularly over the next few days.