HARD TIMES REQUIRE FURIOUS DANCING- Alice Walker

Though we have all encountered our share
of grief and troubles,
we can still hold the line of beauty, form, and beat —
no small accomplishment in a world
as challenging as this one.

Hard times require furious dancing.
Each of us is the proof.
― Alice Walker

There has been SO much happening, and so much to learn, and so many important melanated voices I have wanted to amplify, that I've been pretty silent. But something is bubbling up in me, around me, and I want to share.

I spend a lot of time coming home into my body, feeling the back of my body, feeling my connection to the earth. And I spend a lot of time imagining that someday I'll be the kind of person who is spacious, doesn't say a lot, is calm, doesn't react with fire and passion or disgust and eye rolls, all the time. I even try to talk myself into being this person sometimes. It never works. My body vibrates, my mouth opens, and out comes my 2 cents. But recently I feel curious about this mix of home in my body and wildly intense that I seem to be. 

I'm curious because right now all the soothing and taming in the world won't match the energy of what we are facing as humans. I don't need to tell you what's going on, you know. But here's a juicy tidbit- astrologically the intensity of what we're experiencing is right on target as well. Have you noticed that everyone around you is finding life super intense? That your experience is mirrored in the world around you as you try to get things done, etc.? Yup.  We. Are. In. It. And it's important to name that for Bodies of Culture/Black Bodies/People of Color- it's ALWAYS intense due to the deadliness and oppression of White Body Supremacy. 

So I'm done, for now anyhow, trying to soothe the situation with chamomile tea and deep breaths, to be this pacified being I am not, to minimize the intensity by trying to avoid it. 
It's here, and so are we.

When I let myself feel it, it's like a wave of hot energy moving through my system, and as I let it expand, so do I. And suddenly my container is bigger, and this frustration/heat/rage/discomfort/irritability that felt so solid is now energy moving and I let myself growl or roar. I stomp or slide, I shake or shimmy. I am energized! I am alive! I am not a quiet girl, trying to save others from my intensity. I am life force itself, feeling myself, and it's not a problem. I am not a problem. My morning practice has shifted to dancing to this song outside- because even the energy I wake up with feels unsettled and wants to be expressed through me.  

How can we meet the energy of the life itself, without trying to tame or subdue it, but rather be a sturdy and strong container for it move through? How can we meet the energy boiling, roiling, bubbling up inside us without trying to be good, peaceful, passive, and small? We grow our container. We allow. We yield. We express. We take action! Here are some organizations I'm involved with to check out if you're looking to be involved.
SURJ 
BLACK LIVES MATTER 
COLOR OF CHANGE
POSTCARDS TO SWING STATES
PROGRESSIVE TURNOUT PROJECT

So let life dance you!