I recently taught an ongoing class on the U.S. elections and the climate crisis. I thought it was important to set a light tone, so I started class by telling some short non-oppressive political jokes. We then took turns reading a post on the topic. 


I said that we know that any feelings we have about this election are old. We know old feelings can be discharged, but we don’t know what will happen after we discharge the feelings. Where will discharge lead us? This to me is an exciting prospect. I also said that we discharge so that we can make the most rational choices possible at the present time about (1) who to vote for, (2) how and how much to be involved in the election, (3) how to talk to people about our thoughts, including thoughts about the climate crisis, and (4) how to listen to people. 


We then had a mini-session. I suggested that we start by discharging old material [distress]—for example, feelings about our family’s involvement in politics or about past elections—or go wherever our mind took us on this topic. After the mini-session, each person spoke briefly about where their mind had taken them. 


We took a play and movement break (with more jokes) and then read the second half of the post. We stayed together as a group to discharge about the questions that were raised. For a closing, each person mentioned any insights or re-evaluations they’d had after discharge. Here are some of the comments: 


• The space to express my feelings openly and explore my thinking on this topic was a contradiction [to distress]. I had been hearing many opinions about the election. After discharge, I had more attention and interest in listening to people. I also noticed that I can take a more active role in sharing my own thinking.
• My mom had been adamant in her opinions. She had known she was right. There had been no room for anyone else’s opinions. So, I had decided to be neutral. I hadn’t cared about politics. But it turns out [happens that] I do have a lot of opinions.
• I hide from a lot of the news because I’m afraid to feel the early discouragement I felt in my family. After discharge, I feel more energized and that more is possible.
• I don’t want to listen to people whose opinions are different from mine because I’m afraid they will think I’m agreeing with them, and then I will not have shown who I really am. It feels like an annihilation of myself. I think a lot of this stems from being a raised-working-class Catholic woman who was not expected to have opinions of her own.
• My reluctance to speak up is tied in with sexism. First, there’s the feeling that I have to represent women, that I have to show that women can be articulate in expressing their views, and that if I am not articulate I will have done a disservice to women. Second is how difficult it is to listen to white men when they state their views authoritatively.
• Trump restimulates being in elementary school and observing bullies. He restimulates early discouragement. Sexism is a huge part of it.