Quiet the mind and the soul will speak
Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati
The goal of meditation isn’t to control your thoughts, it’s to stop letting them control you. Over the last few months, we can easily have been overwhelmed with all of the negative news, from COVID to the protests around Black Lives Matter in the aftermath of the George Floyd matter.
We could easily let our thoughts overwhelm us, and result in a negative outlook. Meditation and mindfulness can help us overcome that negative outlook, and realise that maybe the protests around the world are a good thing. Calling out the racism that has been swept under the rug for too long.
It is hard to know how to support black lives, where to go and what to do. A first step can be using mindfulness to stand in solidarity with the black community. Here are 6 ways to use mindfulness to support Black Lives Matters
1. Allow things to be uncomfortable
It can be challenging to realise how deeply racism is entrenched, and worse still to realise that we may be guilty of it ourselves. Using mindfulness we can sit with that, take it in and think about what we can do better. We can’t grow unless we accept the uncomfortable.
2. Look at the world around you
Think about your business, or your previous jobs. How many of your customers or employers have been black? Consider how business owners you know personally that are black. When you travel how many guests at the lodge or hotel you are staying at are black. Looking at the world around us, sometimes results in uncomfortable realisations. The consequences of racism are one of those realisations. It might feel hopeless, when looking at the world, however that hopeless feeling is the beginning.
3. Allow yourself to be angry
Realising that the world is divided along racial lines is hurtful. It should make us angry. Allow yourself to be angry. Let us this anger inspire growth.
4. Accept similarity and difference
Accepting that racism is real, can help us see colour and realise that Black Lives Matter is necessary because right now they seem to be valued less than other lives. Understanding that a white person and a black person have different experiences of the world, helps to make a real change to the world.
5. Decenter yourself
White people need to empower black people and not try to save them ourselves. When we try and become white saviors, we only further a racist system rather than fix it. Many scholars from Frantz Fanon to Steve Biko argue that psychological empowerment is an important part of fighting racism. A white savior complex prevents that from happening.
6. Show up in support
White people do not need to save black people, but we do need to support black people. Racism is sadly our problem, we need to firstly stop racism in our own lives. We need to listen to black voices and change our behaviour from that. Once we have worked on racism in ourselves, we can then help others recognise racism in themselves. We should also support black people any way we can, financially, emotionally and spiritually.
Mindfulness is a helpful way to become anti-racist. Staying mindful of the realities of that black people face, our part in it and how we can uplift and support black voices.
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