Flood the Zone
Unleashing kindness in an era of cruel chaos
I just got back from a magical week in Santa Fe where I co-led a workshop at the Modern Elder Academy exploring midlife, endings and beginnings (and the unknown in between!), letting go, the mythical pattern of the hero’s journey, opening up to the mystical, ritual practices, and so much more.
The accommodations on the ranch were incredible, the food was delicious, and the sunrises were stunning―and there was karaoke and I got to ride a white horse. Giddy-up!
But the best thing about it all was experiencing almost thirty strangers become a community as they courageously examined their stories, removed their masks, tended to their wounds, and reclaimed their gifts.
This post is inspired by the way they showed up for one another—and for me!
Cause chaos.
Spark outrage.
Distract.
Repeat.
This is the strategy of Team Trump, lifted from the Steve Bannon’s playbook, as Ezra Klein points out in this important NYT opinion piece from over the weekend. The idea is to “flood the zone” with executive orders and announcements to overwhelm the media, present Trump as an all-powerful ruler, and discourage the psyche and morale of any opposition.
We are only a couple weeks into four more years of Trump. And this heart-breaking and exhausting pattern won’t be stopping any time soon.
So what’s a citizen to do?
Write your congressperson and protest and stay alert, yes. But I think there is something even more important, more urgent that we need to do in the face of this nonstop cruelty:
Flood the zone… with kindness.
Now this may not become the media’s main story. But that’s fine. We don’t need to let our lives revolve around the daily news cycle. Besides, how did that approach work out for us the last time around?
We can do something else. Something that may be our greatest form of resistance.
We can claim our power to shape the world we live in. We can exercise our individual capacity to alter the world in our everyday interactions. Rather than acting out of fear, anxiety, and hatred, we can each be a conduit of kindness as we encounter our neighbors and strangers in ordinary moments on a daily basis.
This doesn’t mean there won’t be work to do at a systems level. There will be. But it does ensure that we are doing our best to see that as many humans as possible receive a daily reminder that goodness, compassion, and grace exist in abundant supply.
When we flood the zone with kindness at the office and in the grocery store and on the soccer sidelines we counter the media messages with another narrative about how the world really is. Or, at least, how it can be. And we inspire our fellow citizens to stay connected to the kindness that is at their core. To not forget who we really are, nor the simple, beautiful things we are capable of.
You may say I’m a dreamer.
But I’ve experienced and witnessed the transforming power of kindness too many times to count it out.
And sorry-not-sorry, but I refuse to live as if the cruelty of others condemns us to the same.