Tips To Survive Thanksgiving In Post-Election Turmoil

The objective answer may seem (painfully) obvious to you, but logic and fact mean nothing to those whose minds have split into us vs. them--which is all of us when we feel desperately unsafe. And we all feel that way right now. The legions of minorities who have been targeted by Trump and physically attacked by his supporters, as well as the straight white people who continue to scapegoat them. (Consider that those who live in homogenous, isolated, communities tend to feel threatened by people who are very different from them, and no amount of explaining the value of diversity to them will transcend their fears enough to engage their minds.) Our various perspectives could be understandable to one another if we had the opportunity to do intensive family therapy as a nation. But we don't, and we are all stuck in this hot perpetrator/victim dilemma together for the foreseeable future. So we'll have to do our best to simply get through this Thanksgiving holiday without harming anyone or being harmed. And that means keeping our expectations low, and our goals super specific. Connect Make your primary goal to connect over being right. That means don't look for stats and videos and memes and other bits of evidence on your phone to prove your point on this particular occasion. But instead make efforts to look family members in the eyes and tell them how you feel. And let yourself be curious and empathic about how they feel in turn. You don't have to understand their feelings co...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news