The Total Femme

It is easier than ever to lose yourself to an abundance of resource right now, when everyone everywhere seems to be providing this kind of meditation, these most excellent exercise routines, conferences, concerts, sing-alongs, read-alouds, counseling, cooking – a person’s FOMO kicked into high gear by a world-wide response to the pandemic, a world grieving and frustrated and filled with fear.

It is easier than ever to take yourself out of yourself, attempt to salve the wounds with outside ointment, but…do these people, these organizations know you,  however well intentioned they are? Do you trust them? Do they care about you, personally? How can you tell? How can you even tell right now what will help, what will harm?

My dear queer femme sisters, what’s comforting to me right now, if I can remember it and remind myself, is that the answers to those questions are the same as they were before the pandemic, and they’re spiritual rather than academic. For me, the comfort comes from Buddhism, by way of folks like Pema Chodron and the Rev. angel Kyodo williams and from Al-Anon, always there for me, always holding messages of wellness. Both Buddhism and Al-Anon gently remind me that if I try to control things I can’t control, I will exhaust and depress myself. If I run after all the pretty-shiny, ignoring my own rich inner resources, I will deplete and confuse myself. But if I allow myself to let go of control, I can tend to my own health and wellbeing so that I can share with the world what gifts and resources I possess. I can nourish my art, my family, the small bit of earth where I live and breathe, and in this calmer more grounded place, I will grow rather than be diminished.

Dumplings! Today take a knee, take a pause in the rush, whether it’s just a quick deep breath as you look up at the sky or into the budding branches of a tree, or whether you can actually manage to turn it all off and sing or nap or walk or make love or cook – whatever you might be able to do right now that is only you, only you. As much as we need our outside resource, being in touch with our inner world of Peace and Queer Beauty and the Eternal will heal and cradle us.

Being alone with yourself in this way is not isolation. It is power and love and connection.

Every Monday, I offer a Meditation for Queer Femmes in the spirit of my maternal grandmother, Mimi, who was fabulous, kind, and wise and from whom I inherited her Meditations for Women.

At the Total Femme, my intention is to post three times a week: Meditations for Queer Femmes on Monday, Pingy-Dingy Wednesday on Wednesday and Femme Friday on Friday. Rather than play catch-up in a stressful fashion on those weeks when life prevents posting, I have decided to just move gaily forward: if I miss a Monday, the next post will be on Wednesday, and so on. Thank you, little bottle of antibiotics for inspiring me in this! (“…if it’s almost time for the next dose, skip the missed dose and continue your regular dosing schedule. Don’t take a double dose to make up for a missed one.”) As I undergo treatment for breast cancer, however, I’m just going to post whenever I can manage.