28/01/2026
Something I heard often that *riled* me so in the months, and now years, following 7th of October, 2023 was:
“Ug it’s so awful, I can’t even engage with it. It just makes me too sad.”
This was, of course, in response to the images and videos coming out of Gaza of babies, children, women and men being wiped from the face of the earth in a relentless, merciless campaign that spared no one and no place.
It pi**ed me off ‘cos the implication was that those of us who *did* engage with it - who watched with horror or spoke out about it - somehow didn’t feel the same level of sadness or despair.
I assure you that wasn’t the case.
But something happens when you turn *towards* - not away from - the suffering of others. You become so angry and so upset that you take action.
Maybe that action is making a donation, or attending a protest, or calling your senator, or ruffling some feathers at a family dinner. But if you don’t *feel* angry or upset enough to act, then you simply won’t. And if you’re not looking and listening, you won’t feel that way.
My latest substack piece is not just a ‘we need to do better, guys’ clip around the ears. It’s a somatic suggestion and a strategy of how we *can* do better, that doesn’t deny our human desire to not feel hard emotions.
I’d be stoked if you checked it out, it’ll be linked in my substack highlight 🩷
