PURPOSE: To validate the BWC community’s feelings and support in action steps (personal and political)

We are living through a tumultuous time with a lot of uncertainty. This resource list is a document to validate the complex emotional responses we’re feeling and take action steps specific to those emotions. Please utilize what feels helpful from this list and leave what does not. We are in this together. Our community is strong and vast. Regardless of what you’re feeling, keep feeling. Again, we are in this together.

• No Matter What Happens
  1. Take a deep breath.
  2. Call someone you love.
  3. Check out this Community Care Post-Election Toolkit.
  4. Move your body. Movement is medicine.
  5. Think globally, act locally: know your legislators.
• I’m feeling motivated…
  1. Organize with BWC communities. Find a BWC committee to participate in.
  2. Join in on the Mutual Aid organizing at BWC and come to our kick off meeting on Friday, November 22nd from 7-8:30pm.
  3. Build on this momentum! Check in with your favorite local and national organizations furthering the work you’re passionate about.
  4. Determine your tactics for action through this activity
  5. Gather a group of friends or community members to engage in collective action.
  6. Listen to resistance songs of our past, present, and future!
  7. Print and fill out this protest tool kit.
• I’m feeling empowered…
  1. Spread it in your community! Read this article on how contagious good health practices can be, and support your friends and neighbors that are having a hard time.
  2. Seek out community.
  3. Read this article on centering cultural healing in trauma and care work.
  4. Fill out this Post-Election Empowerment Plan.
• I’m feeling celebratory…
  1. Host a dance party.
  2. Write down what is bringing you joy in this moment, and refer back to it in times of distress.
  3. Express gratitude for your community that has provided support to get to this point.
• I’m feeling angry…
  1. Feel your anger; your anger is justified, your anger is sacred.
  2. Channel it into non-violent direct action.
  3. Do some of these exercises to relax.
  4. Journal about what is making you angry, and address these areas once you’ve let out some of your emotional fuel.
  5. Do a mindfulness practice.
  6. Write down, “How do I feel?” and explore what is being hidden beneath your anger.
  7. Exercise; get your heart rate up, and help that energy move through your body.
  8. Touch grass.
• I’m feeling hopeless…
  1. Call a friend, and share how you’re feeling or reminisce about some of your favorite memories together.
  2. Read Hope is a Discipline by Miriame Kaba.
  3. Pet or play with an animal.
  4. Listen to Ayanna Pressley’s speech at our Rosh Hashanah service.
  5. Listen to Helen Raizen’s D’var at our Rosh Hashanah service.
  6. Embrace intergenerational community; reach out to someone in your life or to the vast community at BWC–find out how other groups are navigating this time.
  7. Read futurism stories from marginalized groups, especially Afrofuturism stories and Palestinian futurism (watch video)–these stories demonstrate a belief and commitment in the futures we are building towards.
     • Here is a list of recommendations.
• I’m feeling sad…
  1. Feeling sad is understandable. Take a moment to sit in those feelings before acting or analyzing.
  2. Make art: draw, paint, sculpt, explore while envisioning a besere velt (a better world).
  3. Go for a walk; look at how nature has persisted in times or torment and oppression.
     • Read Black Earth Wisdom.
  4. Listen to Resistance Songs.
  5. Are you worried about marginalized people at this time?
     • Organize with Immigrant Justice committee.
     • Get involved with current work through AFREJ (Acting for Racial and Economic Justice).
  6. Cook dinner with a friend, family member, or neighbor.
  7. Consume something you love whether it’s food, a treat, a movie, or a book.
• I’m feeling fearful…
  1. We are in this together; you are not alone.
  2. Listen to Dan Gelbtuch’s D’var at our Yom Kippur Service.
  3. Identify what helps you feel safe in moments of uncertainty.
  4. Establish boundaries with your phone and access to news and media.
  5. Stretch.
  6. You can decide when to engage in conversations and when you need to take a break. Advocate for that space
  7. Watch this short video from the Daily Show.
• I’m feeling isolated…
  1. Listen to One Voice, a song from our recent Yom Kippur Service.
  2. Think of the work of our ancestors, navigating extreme odds and times of oppression.
  3. Do things that are meaningful to you.
  4. Call a friend.
  5. Ask a friend or neighbor for help.
  6. Reach out to BWC mutual aid.
  7. Volunteer with an aligned organization.
  8. Visit a public space like a park, library, or community center.