When Chani Nicholas released her book, You Born for This, at the start of 2020, I rushed to order a signed copy. I first became aware of her work as a graduate student, and have since found comfort in her emails, Instagram posts, and have even participated in a few of her courses. However, it wasn’t until early this month that I took the time to sit down with my journal and work my way through the self-paced guide to my own astrology chart. I finished the entire book in a matter of hours, and found myself wishing I didn’t have a signed copy so that I could have felt free to scribble in the margins and highlight everything of relevance. And a lot of it felt relevant. 

The insight into my chart felt relevant because it felt like someone was poetically and accurately explaining myself to me, paired with the message that these qualities are all components of my life’s purpose. The gifts and challenges of my chart are all part of the what, why, and how I show up in the world for myself and others. I’ve carried these insights with me throughout the days since, often remembering snippets of text that affirm the choices I make and the work I feel compelled to do. 

You may have heard that therapy is not the place for politics, and that therapists are obligated to maintain neutrality in the room, regardless of their personal beliefs. It is true that there used to be a time when therapists were trained this way, and this history still finds its way into many or most training programs. Today, there are still therapists who attempt to practice this way. I am not one of them. In fact, my practice is founded on the basis that our mental and spiritual health is intertwined with the ways in which we interact with the world and the world interacts with us- individually and collectively. Our racial identities and experiences are a core part of how the world interacts with us, and we cannot meditate or therapize ourselves out of the reality of racism. 

This Sunday, May 10th, is Mother’s Day here in the United States. Although Mother’s Day is particularly weird this year, let’s be clear that Mother’s Day can be a day of mixed emotions any year. You may be relating to the day from the role of a mother or from the role of an adult child --or both. I find that any day that carries the expectation of joy and celebration also carries with it the shadow of loss and pain. I hope that you can allow yourself to honor the multiple truths of the day that feel present to you. 

I’ve been hearing this week that it can be really challenging to spend more time at home for any number of reasons, but particularly that it is more challenging to spend more time with your own thoughts. You may be balancing the responsibilities of work and home with the added element of not being able to access some of your go-to coping strategies. The idea of self-compassion and remaining present with yourself might sound great but feel out of reach or even annoying. I hope to be able to identify a few common myths about self-compassion and normalize some of the thinking traps that can feel a bit sticky or murky.