What’s the antidote — the antidepressant — for the fear so many of us are carrying right now? The fear that shows up as anger, grief, or simple exhaustion?
I think there are two medicines.
The first is the courage to love.
The second, in Anne Lamott’s words, is gratitude for all that remains.
Lamott writes: “How do we shine a little brighter? Gratitude is brightening. Gratitude for all that remains, no matter how much the locusts have eaten, is a subversive act.” In a time when trust feels shaken and the things we learned about democracy seem less certain, that kind of brightness matters. It’s quiet, but it’s powerful.
So how do we shine a little brighter?
For me, it starts every morning with practice.
Service in my community helps. Writing helps. But neither would be possible without my daily ritual: my mat and meditation chair (OK, no longer a cushion), my reading and journaling. Each morning I clear a little inner space. My heart opens. I remember who I am beneath the dark cloud that sometimes hangs over us as a nation.
My mind settles. And I feel again that my individual spirit isn’t separate from whatever name we give the universal spirit.
In the podcast Clearing the Space to Hear: Intuition, Yoga, and the Divine, I talk about how important it is to clear the inner obstacles that block our intuition. When we make that space, our deeper knowing can rise. It isn’t drowned out by noise or fear. And what often emerges is simple and unmistakable: a natural impulse toward connection — toward love.
That inner clearing gives me the courage to reach outward with love.
Sometimes it looks like a visit to a Hospice bereavement client who has become a friend. Sometimes it’s a phone call to someone I know is suffering. Sometimes it’s showing up in a Zoom room with a smile and recognizing the face of the divine in every square on my screen.
“Whatever is done for love,” Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “occurs beyond good and evil.”
Maria Popova says something similar in her essay The Light Between Us:
“The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love… is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other’s light… In our best moments, we are that person for another.”
We do that in very ordinary ways. By listening. By offering small human gestures — a smile to the woman ringing up our groceries, a moment of attention to the couple holding hands, a willingness to reflect back the light someone else may have forgotten they carry.
Here’s a simple practice. It takes no more time than two breaths. And it can help clear the space for that remembering:
Inhale from your feet to your crown: I am.
Exhale to your feet: here.
Inhale from your feet to your crown: I am.
Exhale through your heart: here.
And if it feels comfortable:
Inhale from your feet to your crown: I am.
Exhale to your heart: G-d is.
In just those few breaths, something shifts. The mind clears. Gratitude rises. Resistance softens. And from that quiet place, the courage to love becomes available again.
If you feel drawn to deepen this work, there are many ways to continue. My on-demand courses offer guided practices for clearing inner space so intuition and compassion can take root in everyday life. And I’m grateful to be sharing this evolving work in community as well, including an upcoming LifeForce Yoga and Internal Family Systems program at Kripalu. These offerings extend breath, movement, and meditation into practical tools for emotional balance and spiritual resilience — steady companions for uncertain times.
Explore the on-demand courses here: https://amyweintraub.thinkific.com/
Learn more about a special Kripalu program this Summer here: https://kripalu.org/experiences/lifeforce-yoga-and-internal-family-systems-new-tools-bring-balance-your-life
This is how we shine brighter. Not by pretending sorrow isn’t there, but by making room for love and intuition to guide our next small act. In our best moments, we mirror and magnify each other’s light.
Wherever you are today, I hope you’ll clear a little space, take two conscious breaths, and let love guide your next step.
