In addition to the general nonviolence trainings I’ve been offering, this fall I’m leading seven trainings specifically for people volunteering at the polls for the mid-term elections. What I’m doing is a little different than many of the trainings larger groups are offering. Mine is less about telling people exactly what to do and more about encouraging them to keep breathing so they can discern what to do in an unpredictable situation.
The groups I’m working with are not Quaker, so I’m not actually using the term discernment, but my just-published article in Waging Nonviolence shares what I want to say this month about grounding ourselves, so I’ll keep this newsletter brief. Please share the article if you find it helpful.
The one thing I’ll add for you all — some of whom have been reading my writing for a long time — is that the roots of this current leading trace back to December 2015, when I went to the Paris Climate Summit. I expected that experience would be about connecting to the larger world, but I felt a powerful internal message that I needed to work on my own spiritual practices to prepare for the times ahead. I didn’t know what that meant, but I tried to spend more time in quiet worship, journaling, and paying attention to my dreams. This was less than a year before Trump’s first election.
I believe more than ever that we need to attend to our inward condition in order to hear Spirit’s guidance as we engage a troubled world. Thank you to those who are trying to do both.
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