KRISTI NELSON Executive Director of A Network for Grateful Living invites us…

Let’s show up with fierce hearts and with profound regard for ourselves and each other, our ancestors and future generations.

She continues

Voting opens our hearts to our essential belonging, acknowledging our relatedness and interconnection. In the midst of that collectivity, voting is also an opportunity to act autonomously and to lift up our values uniquely, emboldened by our spiritual fortitude. To vote is to accept the proposition that we each matter and can make a difference, no matter what we are told to the contrary. Life is messy and our choices may often need to be imperfect, but in times like these “perfect” can truly be the enemy of the good. To vote is to rise to the occasion of an opportunity to say YES and to take a stand for the shared heart of our world…

• To vote is to love. To vote is to respect ourselves and our own lives enough to show up and take a stand for what matters most deeply to us. In voting, we empower ourselves to send the message — both internally and to the world — that we care about what matters and that we can make a difference. Vote for the love of yourself.
• To vote is to love. To vote is to show reverence and gratitude for all of the people throughout history who were unable to vote and who risked their lives for the opportunity now available to us. In voting, we bow down to the sacrifices made in the name of our privilege. Vote for the love of your ancestors and heroes.
• To vote is to love. To vote is to express respect for all of the disenfranchised people who still cannot cast their votes. In voting, we ally ourselves with all of the people in the United States and around the world relegated to the margins and unable to be counted. Vote for the love of those who cannot.
• To vote is to love. To vote is to represent the needs of the future — the children who will inherit our world and whose lives will be shaped by every choice we do and do not make. In voting, we take a stand for future generations. Vote for the love of our world’s children.
• To vote is to love. To vote is to advance the values to which we are most devoted and for which we are most sincerely grateful. In voting, we express our passions and the deepest concerns of our hearts. Vote for the love of what you love.

If we value living in a democracy, then getting ourselves to the voting booth whenever the opportunity arises is the chance to do our part in saying that democracy actually matters. Participation matters. Showing up for our beliefs matters. Taking a stand matters. No matter how broken our systems may seem, voting is a better way to address the need for change than not voting. Voting activates and engages us.

So, let’s love what there is to love. Let’s show up with fierce hearts and with profound regard for ourselves and each other, our ancestors and future generations. Let’s raise our individual and collective voices in a hopeful, loving chorus that drowns out efforts to silence or erase any of us. Color in a circle on a piece of paper. Pull a lever. Push a button. No matter how you cast your vote, cast it.

Kristi, thanks for the reminder and insights.

Click below for an audio version of this Vincentian Mindwalk