Moral Injury, Grief, and Resilience
How do we maintain our center and our compassion, in the face of the moral injury we are experiencing from the government. First, we have to understand what moral injury is, and how it makes us feel. Moral injury is the social, psychological, and spiritual harm that arises from a betrayal of one’s core values, such as justice, fairness, and loyalty. Harming others, whether in military or civilian life; failing to protect others, through error or inaction; and failure to be protected by leaders, especially in combat—can all wound a person’s conscience, leading to lasting anger, guilt, and shame, and can fundamentally alter one’s world view and impair the ability to trust others. (source: Psychology Today).
Raise your hand if this is what you’re feeling!
Reverend Steve Ganass-Holmes describes it this way: “Part of what we’re feeling, besides fear and anger, is grief. Allow yourself to grieve. We are losing something we love. Our grief isn’t defeat, but the longing for wholeness that in fact energizes us. Our grief empowers us to do all we can to bring back America from its dying. Grieve, my beloved. Give wings to your sorrow. Then turn that sorrow into song. Give flesh to your grief in art, in new friendships, in creative energy. Find beauty, and stay with it. Grieve and resist.”
As if grieving the dismantling of our democratic way of life and the degradation of our environment isn’t enough, the grief associated with recent deaths of community elders, family members and the betrayal and death of a long-term friendship feels multiplied x10. I’ve been walking a lot, sometimes going out two and three times during the day, just to wander in silence, quieting the monkey mind. No destination. No objective. Just walking, walking, walking, putting one foot in front of the other, to move the grief through my body, to give myself a break from the overwhelm.
May the beauty below be medicine for your soul. (click on any image for gallery view)
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A theme for our times – World on Fire by Sara McLachlan – released over 20 years ago and the lyrics are SO spot on! https://open.spotify.com/track/7Ipw32rwmsEhbf5IBQGmAI?si=cefcdbcf5bda46f3
Hearts are worn in these dark ages
You’re not alone in this story’s pages
The light has fallen amongst the living and the dying
And I’ll try to hold it in, yeah, I’ll try to hold it in
The world’s on fire, it’s more than I can handle
Tap into the water, try to bring my share
Try to bring more, more than I can handle
Bring it to the table, bring what I am able
I watch the heavens but I find no calling
Something I can do to change what’s coming
Stay close to me while the sky is falling
I don’t wanna be left alone, don’t wanna be alone
The world’s on fire, it’s more than I can handle
Tap into the water, try to bring my share
Try to bring more, more than I can handle
Bring it to the table, bring what I am able
Hearts break, hearts mend
Love still hurts
Visions clash, planes crash
Still there’s talk of
Saving souls, still the cold
Is closing in on us
We part the veil on our killer sun
Stray from the straight line on this short run
The more we take the less we become
The fortune of one man means less for some
The world’s on fire, it’s more than I can handle
Tap into the water, try to bring my share
Try to bring more, more than I can handle
Bring it to the table, bring what I am able
The world’s on fire, it’s more than I can handle
Tap into the water, try to bring my share
Try to bring more, more than I can handle
Bring it to the table, bring what I am able
Resilience
What exactly am I (are we) able to bring to the table in these times? For me one of the answers is to dig deep and heal my own wounds, to do my shadow work and shine light on my blind spots. This is an ongoing process, not a one-off exercise. I don’t want to stick my head in the sand while the world’s on fire. If each one of us can make a little effort, then collectively in community, maybe, just maybe, we can handle more, heal more, be resilient and resist more.
How are you feeling? What needs to be healed? What are you able to bring to the table? I’d love to hear from you…
Tomorrow, March 29 (my mother’s heavenly 100th birthday), I being Spring Navaratri observance; a time to turn inward, to be in silence and withdraw from overstimulation of all the senses, recharging and refocusing Shakti for whatever the days ahead may bring. Then on April 5, I will protest.
Thank you everyone who signed up to receive my blog. Please feel free to share it. I post occasionally on Bluesky @beautyasmedicine.bksy.social but it’s better for scrolling. A longer version of this post is on Substack @revlisajwinston. And… if you, or anyone you know, are in need of a spiritual guide, end-of-life doula, wedding or memorial officiant, please reach out.
Peace, love and blessings,
Rev. Lisa
Spiritual Guide
End-of-Life Doula, Interfaith Chaplain/Minister
Contemplative Photographer
Free Photos at Pexels
Spirit-Infused Healing Photography Books at Blurb
“Photography is my love language. Teaching people to see Beauty-as-Medicine is my Ministry.” Rev. Lisa
Lovely and timely. Thank you.
Thank you for posting this, Lisa. As you know, I’ve been living in grief for other reasons for four years now. Our current political situation is so confounding that it’s easy to simply pull the covers over my head and make believe it isn’t happening. But alas, it is, indeed, happening. So off to the protest I go with my sign and my voice and my presence. Let’s hold each other up and stay strong. Blessings and gratitude to all who are helping.