If you’re like me you may be asking (or screaming to no one in particular), “What is happening?” The division, the spewing of hateful words back and forth, the widening tribal gap, the alternative reality that our president lives in, the openly outright lies and gas-lighting – it’s too much to take some days. But the ugliness that happened because of a man named Kavanaugh, that has sent many women (in particular) spiraling into a deep sadness and grief, or for many more, spurred an enraged feeling of knowing enough is enough. 

Thankfully harmony is at our fingertips. For some of us it is found in prayer, in meditation or on the yoga mat. Harmony opens up to us when we seek it. I needed this reminder this week.

Dr. Ford’s accusations were not the only reason millions of us, male and female, were adamantly opposed to having Kavanaugh be the conservative justice chosen and confirmed to sit on the Supreme Court. Dr. Ford’s testimony and Judge Kavanaugh’s angry, defensive, partisan blame-game retort was merely the icing on the cake and deeply touched millions of victims of sexual, physical, and verbal assault. Much of it became a trigger that brought to the surface traumatic memories long ago stuffed down beneath the surface.

Judge Kavanaugh was especially chosen, cherry picked by the GOP (and therefore by the president) in an attempt to protect the president from possible criminal indictment and of course to push through their ‘entitled white man’ misogynist conservative agenda. However, the conservative judges’ list was long and Judge Kavanaugh was not the only, or even the best, person to nominate.

Why didn’t he step down to protect his family from the chaos on day one of the Senate Judiciary confirmation hearings?

Let’s not forget, prior to the sexual assault accusations, on that first day, the uproar from protesters, and the legitimate complaints from democratic senators that they had not been given a chance to review tens of thousands of documents, were reason enough for the president to choose again. It was historic chaos that should not be ignored or forgotten.

I believe in my deepest heart that Judge Kavanaugh should have stepped down on day one. He knew his confirmation would be forever stained with controversy that would create a cloud over his family, our nation, and his work. There was likely another reason he put his family through all of it, including the sexual assault allegations. It involves corrupt pay off that he couldn’t refuse. He has shown himself to be unfit to serve by lying under oath and by angrily refusing to answer questions that were not hypothetical as he claimed them to be. And yet, his confirmation was pushed through.

When Donald Trump says, “What you are seeing is not really happening,” Believe him. The irony of him saying those particular words, referring to the ‘enemy of the people’ (the media), is almost too much to take. He himself is acting as the Great Wizard behind the curtain, moving vintage knobs and turning handles to create an alternative reality he wants us to believe. What you see is not really happening. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

I can’t control any of that but I can control how I feed my soul. And you can too. Inner harmony has become my biggest goal this week in my attempt to process all of this.

Harmony. It takes effort these days. We may be able to change Donald Trump’s horrible tendencies with our votes in a few weeks, or we may not. I personally fear there is too much corruption. We’ve yet to understand the facts about what happened in the 2016 election so how can we be certain our midterm elections will be fair and accurate?

But we can seek harmony in spite of it all.  Internal, personal, in our families, our communities – this we can control. How we see and speak to those around us. 

Harmony is at our fingertips. Be enraged. Then find the balance that harmony brings.

Breathe. Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat.