Obama is good medicine

When I was in grade school, well before I learned an alternative meaning, the dear nuns taught us that phrases like "Mother of God" were called ejaculations. Really, it is kind of perfect that a few exclamatory words, said with a bit of energy and force, would be so named.

Or, maybe, I am channeling my long-lost Irish past life, but either way, Mother of God, what a week this has been!

Before the election, there were flying emails, multiple debates, continuous phone calls, endless ads and constant rallies zigzagging across the country. And, boy howdy, did we have drama with opinions, polls, pundits and punsters. With 22 months of gestation, this was an unusually long – and expensive – birth process.

Did you notice as the due date crept closer, some of us became edgy and anxious? There was an overriding sense of twitchy restlessness. Back and forth, up and down, crescendos and melt-downs, our political hormones (and hormones being those powerful neurotransmitters that make things work) were racing fast and furiously.

And, then, November 4th arrived, and we found ourselves in the final stages of labor, where anything could happen. We held our breath and waited. Happily, our birth was less complicated than projected, and a president-elect was born.

Like so many of you, I was doing the Snoopy happy dance. I applauded the victory. This, for my money, was a win-win situation in so many ways. I felt invested. I felt a part of the process.

You know when a family is having problems and you sit down at the kitchen table and discuss what the problems are and what needs to be done. I feel like I now have a chair at the table. In fact, we all have chairs. And I hope John McCain is sitting nearby so I can lean over and shake his hand. I thought his concession speech was heartfelt, grade-A class and statesmanship.

The morning after the election, I heard that the good folks of Santa Fe, New Mexico went to their mayor and asked to use the park for an impromptu rally. The mayor said, "Yes," and word was spread. Everyone was invited to come to the park at 4:30 p.m. with noisemakers to celebrate.

The birth of our president-elect has been especially joyous and noisy. People on election night simply went outside to whoop and holler because their joy could not be contained. They gathered at Times Square in New York City as if it had been planned. They yelled into their backyards. Clearly, change was loudly afoot.

Our emotions have been running deep. Not only did we dance and sing and holler and whoop on election night, we cried -- and some of us are still crying. We cried for the healing of old wounds and a long history of horrific injustices and cruelty. We cried for the deep acceptance and knowing that we are all connected and united, a rarity in today´s world of individualism. We cried for ourselves, our foibles and our strengths and our hope that we can reclaim and we can rebuild our country, community by community.

The image of Jesse Jackson – the very same Jesse Jackson who was standing on the balcony with Martin Luther King, Jr., when he was assassinated – with tears running down his face has been forever imprinted on my heart. His tears said so much. We have overcome; we have seen amazing grace.

And we cried out of long-forgotten patriotic pride. I was told of a car that had "Proud to be an American -- again" written on its back window. The sheer exuberance and intensity of our feelings not only has us talking, we are all riding an emotional wave of relief and hope and readiness to start anew. As a country, we want a "do over."

There has been a palpable shift in the landscape. We are no longer the same.

I recently read an article where the concept of hope was discussed as a passive, non-active state. The feeling was you can´t actually do much with hope, and hope can keep you seated in your armchair without taking requisite action. I understand the point the author was making, but, for me, hope is tangible. Hope is what brought 14 million new voters to the polls. Hope is the fuel that gets us to stand up one more time. Hope is the light that powers us through darkness. Hope enables us to take the next right step. Hope says, "Yes, we can."

And speaking of right steps, this is where I think the biggest shift has incurred. By both example and tone, President-Elect Obama has chosen to take the high road. And as a result, I suggest that from an energy medicine perspective, we, as both a nation and individuals, have raised our vibration.

Like the purring of a contented cat, our beings hum and resonate with doing the right thing, co-operating with one another, finding common ground, being of service and acting with integrity. Science is even proving that we are hard-wired for these actions.

In plain English, we feel good when we act in these ways. And when we feel good, we raise our vibration and that, in turn, has holistic (mind, body, spirit) benefits. Higher vibrations result in joy, improved immune functioning, heightened creativity, better relationships and all manner of positive stuff.

We like to be helpful and purposeful. It is uplifting and empowering to act with dignity and integrity. And when we act in such ways, we are raising our individual as well as our collective vibratory rates. In other words, hope and concomitant right action are good medicine.

As a kid, I remember standing for hours in line at the local high school for the polio vaccine. Tuesday night was a bit like that. It gave us all a good dose of the medicine we need, so we are no longer constricted and paralyzed. We can become open-handed, flexible and creative. We have become free yet again. And freedom´s twin sister, responsibility reminds us that our national healing will require tenacity and effort.

I happily swallow this good medicine. I will give it time to course through my system, neighborhood and state. I am ready to heal. You are ready to heal. We all know that we can be more than we are now. We know that we can do better, and we are ready.

This good medicine is powerful stuff, and it has been a long time in coming.

To quote activist Michael Moore on this election, "Wow, serious wow."

Copyright 2008 Adele Ryan McDowell.