I had an entirely different newsletter planned, and scheduled to go out today, and then this weekend happened and suddenly everything I said was no longer the right message. So I sat down yesterday and here’s what came out….

I have always believed that love is a guiding light that will take us through the darkness. I believe this because I’ve watched it happen time and time again. I’m lucky enough to work with people, seeing upwards of 100 people a week oftentimes, watching every individual come together to better themselves, to heal, to open their hearts to more love. Day after day I watch love grow. It builds my faith in humanity, in the knowing that people are doing what they can to unravel their own pain, their traumas from the past, the hurt that they’ve caused others. Love will always win, but sometimes we have to go through an uprising to let love and justice reign.

I don’t want to get political here, though I know when we talk about race, the conversation can quickly become political. Instead I want to talk about Radical LOVE for the sake of Justice.

A woman of color, an activist I love and whose work I follow @mspackyetti said beautifully “Not hate of people, but love for justice.” That is what we are experiencing currently, a fight for justice. Not love of justice. Love FOR justice.

Now I KNOW because of the inherent nature of this topic that I will get unsubscribes, unfollowed, and comments back. That is a risk I must take. I cannot be silent any longer for fear of losing reach. I am in the work of love. The work of uncovering love to set yourself free. And today the work of love, the loving path requires fighting FOR.

These protests, not the riots, not the looting, not the criminal activity, not what we are seeing on the news, but the message behind the peaceful protests is the human spirit saying ENOUGH. If we want to keep the human spirit alive, we must all do our part. Black lives are instrumental to the human spirit. We don’t exist as a collective without them.

“Crying won’t save or feed a hungry child.” {Dave Matthews song lyric.} This line keeps running through my head over and over. My sadness cannot do shit to help save black lives. I need to do more.

Listen more.

Educate myself more.

Have the hard conversations more.

Speak out more.

Unlearn more.

Participate more.

Love will hold us in our pain, love us in our darkest moments and show us how to walk together forward. I stand by this. Love is what brought this outcry of human emotion forward, and I know love will take us to more love. But there is no more love without justice.

If you’re feeling angry, sad, frustrated, confused, pissed off, and everything in between, I hear you. I see you. If you are not, I hear you and I see you where you are. Let us meet each other where we are, do better, and do more.

All living beings, all living things have rights. Being not racist is no longer enough. We need to fight for our brothers and sisters, a piece of our human spirit. We must fight for anti-racism so that there is possibility to live in a world of peace and love. A world where justice FOR all means something, bleeds through our beingness.

As a white woman of privilege, I don’t have answers, and it’s not my place to say either. I can only say what I have been doing for my part, which I can do more of of course, and will be different from your part because we are all at different places in this conversation, in this fight. I will say :: consider the natural bias that you hold. The news you are consuming. The voices that trigger you. The emotions you feel. The emotions BIPOC might be feeling. Consider what you have learned. What you don’t yet know. What you might be in need of learning. Consider each other and let’s build a way forward for LOVE AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.

And if you’d like to hear from some of the prominent voices of this movement, some of the people I have been following and learning from, see below. These people and organizations have incredible resources, including language, education, causes to donate, and ways to get involved. Listen. Learn from them. & when you find yourself getting triggered, may you remember that is something in you to heal. Let love hold you in your trigger, hold you in your pain, and bring you through darkness.

I love you all, and are here to support you however I can. May you show some love to someone you don’t know this week.

Follow all of them for different reasons.