Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Michael Scott, and Freddie Gray.
For many, these names are triggers. These names spark painful images. The exploitation of black pain, suffering, and injustice in the media has worked to create post traumatic stress disorder on a subconscious level throughout the black community, leaving us in a constant state of anxiety and fear. Sometimes we don’t even know why we’re scared, angry, or suspicious of others, yet it lingers beneath the surface; this is the silent impact of continuously witnessing state-sanctioned violence via film.
Science shows us that we automatically react to what we watch, even when engaging in a virtual reality such as a movie. We may flinch when we watch a character endure pain in an action movie, scream when the serial killer in a horror movie pops up on the screen… regardless of whether or not there is impending physical danger. We are all empaths.
The propagation of black trauma within the media, regardless of whether it is intended or not, is having an unmeasured impact on the minds and souls of black folk. Here, I wanted to share 6 healing practices I do to cope with the pain of witnessing trauma.
1. Monitor your emotions.
Within the time frame immediately after you see a video in which there is police brutality or some other form of sanctioned black violence/trauma, answer these questions: How are you feeling on the day when a video goes viral? How about on the following days? Are you angry or anxious? How are you interacting with people outside of your race; are you cold and aloof, or friendly and open? These questions will help you to be mindful of the immediate impact of witnessing violence on your emotional health, attitude, can relationships with others. It is essential that you do not direct your emotions towards the people around you.
2. Find release.
Look for a healthy way to channel your emotions To do this, follow steps 3 and 4
3. Be still.
Don’t give in to the temptation to be reactionary, i.e. creating and angry and ill-willed Facebook status, engaging in internet arguments, mistreating the people around you etc. Instead, stop doing EVERYTHING for at least 60 seconds, and then enter the now: first, listen to your surroundings; second, take time to look around you; third, close your eyes and breathe at least 5 deep breaths. Finally, bring your awareness to your body. Send your attention to your feet, legs, arms, torso, and head, and spend at least 10 seconds on each area. Are you stiff? Tight? Once you are aware of any tension in your body, find a method of self-care that will help you release the disease, whether it be massage, stretching, yoga, a bath, or all of the above.
4. Be grateful for the now.
While you are being still, also recognize that in the moment, you are safe. Regardless of the chaos going on in the world around you, in the instance that you are still, you are also okay. Every moment you are still, you are okay, so habitually find time to be still. We have to keep living, as Living is our greatest protest. For more on this, see here.
5. Show kindness to another person.
I would suggest another black person because it is likely that they are suffering from the same stresses, but any human will have the same result. Be intentional, leave an impression on a person. This love will return to you when you need it most.
6. Unplug.
Turn off all sources of news and information for at least 24 hours. Step out of digital reality and come back to self. Attending fully to your physical reality.
This advice is gleaned from my personal experience; these are the lessons I’ve learned from having an empathetic soul. We bear one another's suffering and pain collectively, but on an individual level, it is important that we take stock of our well-being, instead of constantly feeding on each other’s pains. When you begin to realize this, you will begin to stop identifying with the pain of others. Life is paradoxical. Although we are all one, and although, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” we need to recognize that we are each on our own path. We often internalize the pain of others and make it our own, but we have to realize that we need to release our pain as often as we exhale. So breathe in, breathe out, and practice daily self-care.
