Recent events have many of us feeling beat up and worn down, not knowing what to do to help create generative positive change in our world. We have aching
Bleeding Hearts
Yesterday an artist, spiritual teacher, and mother of two sons, whom I admire greatly posted a strong and helpful message on her personal Instagram account. I asked her for her permission to share it here and she generously gave me that permission.
Here it is…
We tell our girls to process their feelings — share them, work through them with counselors and mentors, journal about them, and to have faith and hope! But when boys have big feelings or experience trauma? Our culture tells them to suck it up, tough it out and be a man.
And then we wonder why boys in crisis, who feel unloved and unseen, become killers. The vast majority of mass shooters are young males, from their teens into their early 30s. Most have experienced childhood trauma and have recently gone through a major hardship without support and they have no idea how to process their heartache and brokenness. And they hurt so much and feel so unloved that it feels like the only way to matter, the only way to be noticed, is to create hell on earth for others.
Friends, we must get better at loving up our boys. It is something we can ALL do today. Parents and relatives, you cannot love them too loudly — communicate your love all the time! Friends and neighbors and community members, text and talk to the young men in your life. Even if they don’t answer or can’t look you in the eyes yet, every moment you spend on them tells them they matter.
There are lots of things we need to fix to make tragedies like Uvalde stop happening. But this is one thing we can all do today and everyday. We must love up our boys and help them work through their hardships in healthy, productive ways — just like we tend to help our girls do. My dad was a pioneer in positive youth development & research and he always said “if you’re breathing, you’re on the team.” Meaning…raising healthy kids to be healthy adults requires ALL of us to pitch in. So. Who are the boys in your life you can become an earth angel for? Your love could help change everything. ❤️
— Liv Lane
That’s all for today friends. Please love up the boys in your life. Spread love. Spread kindness.
May you walk in beauty.
Note: Today’s photos from a walk down my street this morning, taken with very soft focus because that’s how I felt like I wanted to see the world today.
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