31 Oct Rules for Tuesday

Breathe deep
Exhale all the way
Fall out of love with your opinions
Forgive yourself for not doing more
Then do a little more
Like cultivating peace
With your smile at the checkout stand
Your new bath salts
Remember that fear masquerades as swagger
So hate the swagger
But love the scared one underneath
Stop pretending that you know what should happen
How it should happen
When it should happen
To whom it should happen
Instead
Just love what you love
Stand up for what you love
Trust your passion
Cultivate your humility
Roar
Cry
Set aside at least 20 minutes to move your body
Wildly
Without premeditation
Dance even if you don’t dance
Or think you’re not any good at it
Find every knot of tension within you
Every story about the future hiding in your cell receptors
And shake them off
Breathe deep
Exhale all the way
Lick the sweat that drips on your lip
Mask your face
Unmask your self-righteousness
Find the scared one underneath
Put your arm around it gently
Hum to it softly
Remind it:
Sorrow will follow sorrow
That’s how this works
There’s no vaccine for it
But joy, too, will follow joy
Remind yourself:
To feel the sorrow and the joy
To feel everything
Including the fear you’re holding
Until there’s nothing left to fear
But that’s long-term
Because right now, that scared one needs you still
Remind it:
The earth may die
It’s true, honey
Though not today
Justice will triumph somehow
It’s true, honey
Though not today
Today is for one thing
Voting
With a ballot, sure
But there are so many other ways to vote
Vote with your feet by walking through your neigborhood
Vote for your ancestors with a deep bow
Vote for your descendents by trusting their vision
Vote for your tribes, all of them, by affirming that you belong
If you’ve lost your tribes, or never knew them
Here are some with openings:
The trauma tribe
The healing tribe
The compassion tribe
The outsider tribe
The artists of any and all mediums tribe
The evolution tribe
The revolution tribe
The never feel fully grown up tribe
The inappropriate humor tribe
The always still figuring it out tribe
The overwhelmed, exasperated, depleted, can barely take this anymore tribe
The invisible energy that binds us all tribe
(Which you can call God, Spirit, Heart – whatever you choose)
The loves social media tribe
The hates social media tribe
The love-hates and hate-loves social media tribe
The Stop! I never agreed to any of this tribe
The nothing I see out there represents my deepest longings tribe
The hurt people don’t want to hurt people anymore tribe
The consensual pleasure of all kinds is loudly encouraged tribe
The people with privilege who want to use it for the greater good tribe
The really want to listen tribe
The really need to be heard tribe
The hanging on by a thread without hugs right now tribe
The my soft animal body is not made for this world tribe
The desperate for quiet tribe
The quietly hopeful against all odds tribe
All of these tribes exist
Even though they’re not represented by any political party
All of these tribes have openings
And you are pre-approved
So on Tuesday
And in the aftermath of Tuesday
Vote and keep voting
Join and keep joining
Because now that you know the rules
You are not just pre-approved
You are pre-whole
You are pre-worthy
You are pre-lovable
You are pre-loved
And you have already won