Is there such a thing as Political Wellness?
To say we live in historic times may be the understatement of the year. This is particularly true in the arena of politics, as we have seen numerous issues that cause feelings to run deeply in many directions. Among this maelstrom of opinion, is there a way in which we can identify principles of political wellness? There certainly are some useful touchpoints.
The first thing to remember is that despite our politics we are all human beings. There is so much more to unite us as individuals than there ever would be to divide us in terms of ideology. It is a matter of perspective. Throw politics out, and we all have to put our shirts on one arm at a time.
It is a useful strategy in politics (and certainly not a uniquely American trait) to accentuate our differences to divide us. This is intended to have us look to our political saviors for deliverance from the very problems they are often implicit in creating. Emotionally within us this can produce a sense of conflicted distrust. We can often project that distrust onto our colleagues or neighbors.
True wellness begins with ordered and critical thought, particularly when it comes to our relationships with others. Emotions are important, but our view of the world and others around us cannot be purely emotional. This requires self-introspection and a broad and open minded assessment of those around us. It is a lazy and usually inaccurate process to just conveniently put another person into a box of pre-conceived identification. And those who play hard ball politics know this all too well.
It is a mental convenience to label someone conservative or progressive, Republican or Democrat; a pro-life advocate or a women’s rights champion; a Trumpian or a Never-Trumper. It is an easy but comparatively thoughtless process to impose a number of assumptions on what such labels might mean. True wellness means digging down and recognizing our deeper commonalities. We have to look past imposed labels.
True wellness from a political point of view means identifying and emphasizing our common humanity. If we are united in our core beliefs about our own humanity, united in a desire to uplift one another in every significant aspect that matters, our politics will become much less relevant, and less stressful. It is up to us to empower each other, and not look to someone else or some aspect of our political system to do that for us.
In short, political wellness relies on our innate ability to care regardless of another person’s outlook or point of view. That is a personal choice, and no amount of rhetoric or sense of injustice can take that choice away from us. We can choose to focus on the individual and those personal traits that matter most. In such times, it so critical for us to focus on those commonalities for our well-being, both personally and as a nation.