Taking a Deeper Breath

There've been times that I thought I couldn't last for long But now I think I'm able to carry on It's been a long, a long time comin', but I know A change gonna come, oh yes it will  Lately I've been hearing Sam Cooke's voice in my head. At this difficult time -- when COVID and the struggle against White supremacy felt traumatic enough, and now we are dealing with catastrophic wildfires and choking smoke -- it's helpful to be reminded that change does come. That it will come. And that we can be a part of it. As a psychotherapist, I have learned that change is a process, not an event. Behaviorally, change may be thrust upon us, as in a pandemic or natural disaster. But a change in outlook or beliefs, a change by choice, or a change that is embraced is ordinarily the culmination of a process. And that process usually begins below our consciousness, before we are even aware that we may be getting ready to consider a change. So it makes sen

Persistence is the sibling of resistance. When it comes to pushing back against injustice, we need to take a long view. Change can come -- I'll have more to say about that in my next post -- but it can, and usually will, be incremental. We must be prepared to resist for as long as it takes to achieve real change. Our mentors knew this. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted for over a year. John Lewis did not make it across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on his first try. On the night before he was assassinated, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., told his gathered followers, "I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land."  Today, Montgomery busses are integrated, and all are free to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge; at his death this summer, Congressman Lewis's coffin was respectfully  carried over the bridge  in tribute to him. The Promised Land? We are still waiting for that. And we must continue our resistance