All actions have a learning component. As does this election.

I received my absentee ballot and I’m going to vote and send it in. And then I’ve done my part, in walking the walk and talking the talk.

I’m looking forward to voting in this historic election and I’m looking forward to this election being over. The unrest in the feelings that have come forward in our nation will take time to heal. Yet everything that has occurred — everything — has been in the highest good for the growth of this country during this pivotal time in history.

We must flush out all of this fear and anger in order to come together to address much bigger issues coming forward in the world.

So go vote. Then let it go and be the best person you can possibly be, for yourself, your friends, your families, and your communities.

This means taking a breath before deciding our opinions are worthy of being turned into a sword.

This means thinking through generalizations of “those people” no matter who they may be. To make certain people out to be “those people”‘– means we become those people.

And most of all, this timeframe means having the courage not to punch back with a fist when the situation requires our own tears, instead.

Hear this:

Our anger is not righteousness.

It’s just anger.

And beneath that anger is pain.

Our pain is not righteousness.

It’s just fear that has festered.

Fear that nothing will get better. Fear that we are not seen, that we are caught in the treads of a massive shoe that crushes us to the ground. Fear that our hopes, our needs, our understanding of our world — has gone invisible.

Fear that we are invisible.

This new world to come is ours to design. We choose it’s guidelines. We choose it’s parameters. We choose to be the victim, the oppressor, or the champion for others.

This choice is ours alone. We make this choice everyday.

We are not kept out of chaos by violence, nor fear, nor oppression, nor judgement, nor cynicism.

Law and order are not iron rails upon which we must be chained. ‘Law’ is the balance of actions and ‘order’ is the action taken to keep the balance. The key to both is agreeing that both have a place in peace.

The other component to peace — the most important component — is you.

It is not the President who will bring peace and healing to America. It is not the Supreme Court Justices. It is not the Congress nor the trade policies. It is not tax breaks nor our neighbor who holds differing political viewpoints. It is not big money. It is not our partners, our pastors, our rabbis, our husbands or wives.

It is us. It is YOU.

This new world, this peace, this safety – starts with you; with what comes from your mouth and your heart, everyday.

If you wish to see the pain and the fear in the world go away — then work to remove the pain and the fear in yourself.

Because you, and me, and seven billion others — are the world.

We don’t need a savior. We don’t need a cause.

We simply need to recognize that WE are enough; we are sacred enough, special enough, worth treating ourselves with love instead of pain, worth reaching out to others past our misunderstanding of them, as we would hope they would extend us, too, this same courtesy.

You are enough.

You are worth respecting yourself. When we spew vitriol towards those with whom we disagree, we do not shame and disrespect them. We disrespect ourself by showing others what we feel we are worthy of, by our very actions.

Anger met with anger is simply an exercise in anger. Judgement met with judgement demonstrates we judge ourselves the most harshly, above all.

How we behave everyday sets the tone for the world.

Own it. Give away your demons, for they may have been valuable teachers, yet no effective student utilizes the same teacher forever.

That is the sign of the student who fears moving forward.

Why do we fear moving forward? Because familiar pain is less frightening than unexpected pain.

And there is our bottom line, humanity.

We build life paths, relationships, entire societies, on avoiding predictable pain —

— instead of truly living by allowing the variable called joy.

No President can convince you that you are safe enough to expect joy. No Congress, no political party, no religion nor tax code. No partner, no lover, no spouse, no child. This responsibility of excavating our own joy through layers of fear and mistrust and bitterness — is our task, and ours alone. This excavation is the action of hope. And we must have courage to be hopeful.

So be brave. Own your task. Own yourself.

And let’s change the world.