In our worship services on Sunday mornings, we have recently begun looking at how to recognize fear and anxiety in our bodies and how to bring more calm in our lives. The goal is to be more aware of our bodies and how that awareness can be healing to us and, in fact, to those around us.

And yet sometimes, we need to be angry. Sometimes we need to be fearful. These can be good tools for action, for working towards equity and justice, for keeping us safe. Again, we need to know what these emotions feel like and what they do to our bodies. 

Not only do we want to become more familiar with our somatic responses, we need  to find equilibrium or balance in our lives. But just watching the news we know that the world is wholly out of balance. We see this imbalance in our justice system, in our electoral process, in the weather, in the wars in Gaza/Israel and Ukraine, and for some of us, in our own personal lives.

When we are busy, out of balance, lacking in focus, the tendency is to drop the things that are good for us to just get done what must be done. But the end result is misleading. Things are crossed off the list (look what I accomplished!) but we are exhausted and out of balance.

Here’s how to bring back the balance. Tell someone you love them. Lend a hand. Give something away without expecting anything in return. Stay connected or reconnect to UUFCC. Tell a story. Laugh. Listen. Shut off the news. Take a walk. Take a break. Dance. Give yourself permission just to be. Practice body awareness. Practice hope. And reach out if you need to.

In some real ways, the world’s balance depends on you having yours. Take good care of yourselves, dear ones. We all need each other, now more than ever.

Tracy