I sent you an email a couple of days ago in which I invited you to consider where your edges currently are and what edge you are being called to right now.

If you missed the email on Tuesday about edges, I invite you to read it HERE before continuing.

Also, a gentle reminder before you continue, that the last email I sent begins with a grounding check-in to orient you to what is currently here with you as you read. You can pause and click back to it at any point during this email.

Speaking of pause, there was a beautiful moment during the coaching industry strike, which you can watch the replay to HERE, where one of the organizers was visibly upset and attempting to move the agenda forward.

Her friend and comrade lovingly asked,

“Would you like to pause for a minute before continuing? I imagine other folks here might be feeling this, too.”

She did, in fact, need to take a beat, and her response to her friend was,

“Thank you for slowing me down.”

These are the types of relationships that are essential right now.

We listened to Palestinian stories of survival, hope, and resistance.

We donated to 2 families and 1 organization in Palestine.

We laughed and cried and raged.

We listened.

We sang.

We danced.

We sat together.

We called our representatives in the US using the 5Calls App to either thank them for voting YES on SJ Res 34 and SJ Res 41 (both are bills to block Israel arms deals) or to urge them to vote YES if they previously voted NO.

If you’re also in the US and you’re curious about where your reps stand, the list of Representatives that voted YES on SJ Res 34 & 41 can be found HERE.

If you’re unsure of who your local reps are, they are listed when you fill in your information on the 5Calls App. It takes approximately 5-7 minutes total to register and make your calls, in particular if you leave voicemails like I did.

I’m here to help you figure out how to do this and what to say if this is the particular edge you are being called to. It doesn’t have to be, but if it is, just hit reply and let me know, and I’ll help ya get started.

The hosts talked about how we are constantly being invited to new edges in any social change movement, or any experience in our lives really, even and especially if it is our first time.

And what are edges?

You know, they kinda look and feel like those spaces that maybe are a little uncomfy at first but are ultimately liberating for yourself and others.

It is up to each of us individually to figure out which edge we are being called to and then move towards it.

We left the strike last Friday with a final question lingering in the air:

What edge are you being called to?

We are collectively being called to stretch our hearts clear across the globe and connect to the humanity in Gaza, in Palestine.

To connect with humans who have been ripped and torn from the land that nourished them for years, the land they built a reciprocal relationship with - a land that is also being starved to death.

I write this from my little corner of the world, on unceded Nonotuck lands, one that is rich and fertile and sustains so much life. My partner has been in relationship with the land they belong to for nearly two decades and the land she tends provides so much bounty to us and several other living beings.

During the global strike, I learned that a single can of baby formula costs close to $200 USD in Palestine right now.

A. SINGLE. CAN.

A land once abundant in olive and citrus trees, in lentils and grains, is being starved of its life force.

And I’m over here, annoyed with the abundance of squash and cucumbers that spill out from fertile soil year after year.

We are being called to our edges.

I am being called to my next edge.

I have begun to connect individually with humans living in Palestine. I am building relationships with these bright blazing lights that my government is attempting to extinguish. We are communicating through video and audio calls and text messaging.

16 year old Ahmed is one of the brightest stars in the night sky, currently struggling to provide for his family of 5 after his father was held hostage in an occupational prison.

Hala is yet another beacon, a mother who sought refuge in Egypt, caring for her 2-year-old daughter alone, while separated from her husband, who is still in Gaza.

Ahmed and Hala’s GoFundMe’s are linked above, and I share much more in collaboration with them on my Instagram HERE

I see their light. I KNOW they’re still here with us. I’ve heard their stories and felt their resistance songs move in rhythm with my own beating heart.

I am learning what they need most in this life right now and am shouting it from the rooftops and doing what is within my means.

And yes, I want to call my reps more and THANK them for saying yes to SJ Res 34 and 41, and urge them to continue to use their positions of power to put the pressure on our government to end this genocide, this mass starvation of an entire people and land.

I don’t want to let my heart close off to the humanity of Gaza, to the pieces of myself that are reflected in them.

They are a mirror to the entire world right now.

Please, if you’re able to, don’t look away.

I end this email today with the same question I posed at the beginning.

Have you found your edge?

It doesn’t have to, and likely won’t, look exactly like mine.

There are so many ways that folks can show up in solidarity with people in Palestine.

Whether you're out in the streets protesting, calling your reps, sharing info on your social media, chatting up grandpa at your next family gathering, reaching out to the individual humans in Palestine (or any other area experiencing genocide), confiding in and strategizing with a trusted friend, donating to mutual aid or larger fundraisers, … we need you to greet whatever edge is currently calling you.

Even though Anna from Frozen 2 says, “Just do the next right thing,” I think you don’t actually need to know the right way to do it, and you certainly don’t need to do all of the things at once.

I invite you to rather just do the next real thing, the one that might be shaky and all over the place at first, but ultimately resonates in the deepest parts of your body and spirit.

In fact, when you show up in your full humanity, messiness and all, at whatever pace or flow feels best to you, it might actually help others connect to their humanity, too.

I have no idea what the heckin heck I’m doing half the time, but what I do know is that I can continually greet my soft and growing, sharp and sloppy, tender and torn, edges as they present themselves to me.

And hopefully, when we all expand out towards our edges, we will create the movement that is necessary for lasting change.