Mr. Rogers Knew a Thing or Two (link to guided meditation included)

"One of the best things you can do to prepare for a disaster is to bring your neighbor a basket of muffins, because you have to get to know them before the storm." - Dr. Samantha Montano

"It turns out that communities are the most important force that allows humans to weather great storms, literally and metaphorically." - Christine E. Nieves Rodriguez

"You can't stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf." - Jon Kabat-Zinn

I don't know about you, but life feels a little stormy right now. I appreciate that community makes it possible to surf through the waves -- or get back on the board when you've fallen off.

Someone pointed out to me recently that "community" doesn't have to mean "friends." Friends are one type of community, definitely! But, they are a specific, more intimate form of community. The bar for community doesn't have to be that high.

Community can also be the neighbors, the acquaintances, the people who help you every week at the supermarket, etc, who form the fabric of a community and make life easier for you, who make eye contact and smile, who would reach out a hand if they saw you slip.

Does it sound very "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood"?

A little! But... maybe Mr. Rogers is kind of a big deal for a reason! (What's that saying - "eveything I needed to know I learned in kindergarten"?)

I’m thinking about the relative strength of one strand vs. three strands braided together. I’m thinking about the feeling of fear in isolation vs. solidarity in connection. I’m thinking about our ability to drop small pebbles out into the world and ripple out change, change that can be magnified and turned into slightly larger ripples when we act together.

I'd like to cultivate some Mr. Roger's community, too.  The neighborhood he cultivated was community. Community supports. Community can't stop the waves, but it can help you surf.

And, I'm thinking about one last quote from Rebecca Solnit...

“[Mutual aid] is a deep belief in and commitment to inseparability: that my well-being is inseparable from yours and that, in caring for yours, I care for myself and, more than that, for the larger whole that is us, because we are in this together. That is, we are not mutual because of the exchange of aid; we aid each other because we are already mutual.” - Rebecca Solnit

A 17-minute guided meditation to practice expanding awareness to our whole community is available here https://youtu.be/OsQ0WMEfMVI and below. This was recorded live on 10/1.

If you'd like a slightly longer variation (26 minutes), you can find it here: https://youtu.be/q-szqcVzH_0 This was recorded 9/30/25.

To join a live meditation - or to access more recordings - sign-up here. (You can select a "free" option or a number of different donation amounts. All money goes to a non-profit working to halt climate change.)