The View From Here – February 2025

Greetings Dear Ones,

It’s been a hard last few weeks. I have felt exhausted, outraged, numb, bereft…right alongside being moved by goodness, beauty and small acts of kindness and care.

If any of this resonates with you it means you have a pulse, are human, and are doing the best you can amid unfathomable times. All that you are feeling right now, and how you are trying to cope and get through, is natural, normal and understandable. I honor how much you care, and I also honor your body and soul’s need for a break.

Searching for soul, and keeping my soul lit, requires some things, namely discipline. Concrete actions that keep the kaleidoscope of our whole lived experience and capacity at the fore, are needed right now, and I thought to share some with you. Maybe you have some to share with this community too. Won’t you consider putting them in the weekly news? We need as much wisdom as we can get these days, and I don’t presume to have it all!

• Breathe, rest and pace yourselves. “We cannot do the work of liberation if we are exhausted. Take a nap.”–from Tricia Hersey, author of Rest as Resistance, who believes that actively prioritizing rest is essential for meaningful activism and social justice work. Being burnt out prevents effective action towards liberation.
• “As much as possible, reduce exposure to news sites and socialsexcept those that offer us real sustenance…the goal is to be adequately informed without being psychologically and spiritually destroyed…Outrage fatigue helps no one and it drains our ability to be constructive and strategic.”–from the UU Women’s Federation. January 2025.
• Ferociously protect your sources of love, community and joy and act from those.   First Parish of Watertown is here for you. Remember to carve out moments within this community and your other communities where you can gather, socialize, heal, reset, ask for help and find peace.
• Newsflash: you can’t do it all. Pick one thingthat you CAN do. Learn about who is already doing the best work around that thing (and probably have been for years) and go from there. You might be called to something big, or it might be something small. If everyone did one thing imagine what could happen? Take your time, and let spirit be your guide in this.

Our sanctuary is full of loving, kind, wise and soulful people whose personal lives are tender, who are doing so much good in this community, and who are all doing the best they can. Let’s agree that we are in this together, that there is so much to be grateful for here, and that so long as we are guided by Love, we can, and we will, get through this.

With love and in faith,
Rev. Sophia