Dr. Henry's Wisdom: Be kind. Be Calm. Be safe. Examining the Power We Possess

 

Dr. Bonnie Henry is the head medical officer for BC who has guided us with advice on how to cope with COVID pandemic, based on science.

Using her notes on protecting ourselves from the virus, I was inspired to examine the health of our neoliberal capitalist society, and how I might apply Dr. Henry's wisdom to living in my community.  Although I am not a scientist I question how we might support people in a democratic society? How can we work together to belong here?  

White supremacy, Fascism and Nazi sentiments destroyed Europe in the thirties and forties and once it took over, there was very little that people could do. What became clear to me — was the killing of Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, disabled, and anyone who questioned the command, was actually the culling of humanity to create an alienated zombie class.

1. Fascism did not die after WWII. The toxic feelings  live within the heart of all, waiting for an opportunity to come out in rage and frustration, to replace the complex emotions with fear, poverty and hate. Nihilism that took millions of lives, and destroyed nations. 

Yet still fascism rises again and again. It is a virus of the mind and we must be vigilant against the myths and habits that rob us of our humanity.

2. Who benefits by hate groups? We can look inward when headlines make us sit up and notice. As well as being honest and in touch with our feelings we can keep our mental health by identifying them. Take a thought, any thought — who benefits by the outcome of that thought if it is unexamined.

3. Popular does not mean good or natural. 

4. Better to deconstruct the idea not the person. People who hate have already been trashed. They need to restore their self-esteem by being part of a community that honours life. And they need others to speak up for dignity, not hierarchy.

5. Be proud of your achievements or character not the conquests and colonial attitudes that you did not contribute to or suffer from. 

6. Pride in one's heritage is about honouring the struggles of your ancestors who did not have a stake in the wars they were forced to fight. Supremacy is about holding mythological worth over others through murder, torture and abuse and has nothing to do with an individual's inherent strength.

7. Symptoms of trauma and abuse are not your fault, but to hurt others because you were hurt, is. Stop the harm and let the virus die.  

8. Your home is your sanctuary where you can restore your self and your loved ones. It's no-ones business what you do unless you are hurting another being.

9. Discipline is what you do for yourself. You can encourage and inspire others to discipline themselves, but using force will simply alienate the mind and heart to the idea. Punishment and reward is not discipline, it's trying to force change using your own power.

10. Your community needs YOU. Your feelings, your tears, your honest ideas, and your mistakes. A community without human conscience and empathy is a prison not a community. 

11. Your routines of hygiene and sustenance can be the border you cross from the world you did not create to the world that comforts and renews.

12. Whatever comforts you is your medicine as long as it does not demean or harm others. 

13. Whatever you invite into your home should not abuse you. Television, radio, social media, music — are tools. Ask yourself — what purpose do they serve? Do they entertain, enlighten, calm or soothe? Or do they harm? 

14. You can't protect your domaine by excusing abusive behaviour. And you can't always control it. But you can ask yourself what it's doing there? Is it a past trauma? Is it a new pain?

15. You are the only one who can express how you feel. How you feel needs to be noticed. Not what anyone says you should feel.

16. Don't tell anyone else what they should feel.

17. No matter where you are or what you are doing, admit what you feel. You own your feelings.

18. Wander through the world wherever you feel safe. Breathe in and out. You belong where you are.

19. Competing for the most of what each of us wants makes us all homeless. We are part of something else to whom we owe our lives.  Empathy and compassion is the book beneath our neural substrate.