Many folks don’t want to hear stressful, bad news. Many folks don’t take care of themselves, on the other hand. So there’s a serious answer to how to keep a healthy balance:

From a Buddhist pov, we need to be able to look at facts, truth, news, what’s happening, our emotions, the very real dangers and losses…

…and we need to be able to regulate, to adapt, to learn, to take care of ourselves and those we love and our planet and animals. Both. And we can’t take care if we don’t know what dangers are coming.

It’s like driving, or biking. We need to see the car coming, and get out of its way.

We don’t stick our heads in the sand, on the one hand, but on the other, we don’t allow ourselves to drown in stress or anger or grief.

I’m a journalist. A writer. An activist. Involved in local and national politics. I’m scared for my free speech, and my family’s safety. We’ll see how Trump’s picks go, but if he picks crazies, we may get out of the US.

All that said, I can not imagine how I would feel if I were LGBTQ+, right now. Or, I should say, I can imagine.

Empathy is fundamental to human society. I feel for you, you feel for me. We find one another’s hearts, and in so doing revel in our differences while celebrating what we have in common beneath it all.

But, these days, many do not celebrate differences. They want us to suppress them, to feel shame. When, of course, hate is what should feel shame. Hate is what should crawl back under those proverbial rocks. Hate is what burns the threads that make up the patchwork quilt that is our pluralistic, rich-in-its-diversity society. DEI and LGBTQ are not acronyms. They are reflective of a fundamental life-view that encourages all of us to feel not only safe, secure, but happy and accepted in ourselves, among others.

If you need help, right now, know that there is help. There is community. There is wisdom in mentorship, in talking, in listening. The more we connect, the safer we are.