07/11/2020
Some of you have inquired how a therapist is coping with these wild times. Well? I stay connected to the fact that the world has always been wildly painful; it’s just that sometimes it becomes harder to ignore because it’s in our own yard now.
But the world has always been painful for many. For example, In India, if a woman becomes a widow, she is shunned from her community. India is also a place with rampant s*x trafficking and systemic human rights violations towards women and girls, specifically.
The cover-up I’m wearing today was handmade by a widow in India through the . I purchased it for $40 last spring at a women’s health conference at UC Irvine. Although It doesn’t seem like much, having intention and presence with everything you do, including how you spend your money, has ripple effects across the globe and helps with your own mental health because you are learning to live more truthfully and empathically. Being attuned to others’ plights gives us meaning, connection, and changes the world.
Every time I wear it, I think about the widow who made it for me and I pray for her. And I stay connected to her pain, her joy, her beauty, everything. I wonder about her life, her story, and what else I can do to let her and other women like her know that I see her.