I’m noticing I feel insecure about how to respond to some of the challenges we are facing. I know my values and intentions are to speak out against racial, religious and social injustice, advocate for people of color, and champion kindness for all. But I recognize I haven’t done enough reckoning and digging within. I don’t feel confident about how I can contribute, or what is okay to say or do.
I am sitting with a lot of discomfort.
I understand that this experience of discomfort is a good thing. Discomfort motivates me to seek out information that is hard to hear, and listen wholeheartedly. Discomfort demands sometimes awkward conversations with friends, family and especially my children. Discomfort compels me to examine my own biases more closely.
Discomfort is a catalyst for growth.
Mindfulness asks us to practice curiosity rather than judgment. Instead of resisting or pushing away discomfort, we can allow it to arise, reflect on it thoughtfully and act. Further, mindfulness can help us uncover and reduce bias and prejudice; “...studies are beginning to show that mindfulness meditation and compassion practices serve as potent aids in the work of decreasing bias."(1)
This is my work to do.
(1)Rhonda Magee, “How Mindfulness Can Defeat Racial Bias,”Greater Good Magazine, Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.