It’s been election, election, election all the time around here. Or it just seems that way… Because it’s also been sew witch costumes, pick persimmons, work on the treehouse, ferry our child to school and back, cook and clean over and over, wrestle on the trampoline, work the day job, and… you know, everything.

Spirituality is not a privilege — everybody has some intimacy with existence, whether conscious or unconscious — but meditation, yoga, study, and other kinds of formal discipline are, simply because they take time and energy that could be put to survival and self-protection (like parenting, activism, and livelihood, for instance, which all can sure feel like survival sometimes). If you have enough security in your life to sit still and let your breath settle, be grateful. And then actually do it!

For many of us, both here in the US and everywhere, really, our survival-oriented nervous systems have been getting pinged pretty hard this year. And this election has a more apocalyptic flavor than any other in my lifetime, for folks on both sides of this thing. That’s trouble. But as far as spirit goes, the world is much the same as ever. Greed seeks power, hatred divides, and good people everywhere try to survive and help each other. And it’s relentless. So if you want to sit still for more than a few moments and turn your spindrift gaze toward paradise, you have to make it happen amid the storms, rather than waiting for the divine moment of rest to suddenly open in front of you like a cloud break where .

So as we hurtle toward the end of the current season of the American drama, remember as big a picture as you can, often. Stay inspired, and do whatever you can to make real contact with folx you love and trust, even through the glowing screens. And find some moments every day to put it all down and find your body.