By Dr. Femke E. Bakker
(Part 4 of a 4-Part Series on Finding Ease in Political Differences)
This is the final part of a four-part series on Finding Ease in Political Differences. Over the past few weeks, I’ve shared thoughts on how to navigate polarization, stay grounded in difficult conversations, and empower yourself to hold your own voice with confidence. Each piece has included reflections, tools, and meditative practices to support you on this path.
Before we begin, a gentle reassurance: These articles are not about politics, and they are certainly not here to tell you what to think or believe. You will never be asked to agree with, excuse, or accept harmful words or actions. Instead, they are here for you, to help you stand firmly in who you are, to support your own values without being consumed by division, and to nurture your desire for connection, love, and inner peace.
If you’ve been feeling exhausted by the state of the world, I hope this series has brought even a small sense of relief.
Finding Your Own Voice in a Divided World
There comes a moment when you realize that no matter how much noise surrounds you, no matter how divided the world seems, you are still here. You, with your own thoughts. Your own values. Your own way of seeing the world.
But in times of deep division, holding onto your voice, without feeling the need to shout or silence yourself, can be one of the hardest things to do. How do you express yourself without getting lost in the chaos? How do you stay true to what you believe without being pulled into the need for validation?
The Power of Owning Your Voice
One of the reasons division feels so painful is that it creates pressure to choose sides. To prove where we stand. To belong to something. And while community is vital, it can also make us doubt ourselves. Are we saying enough? Or too much? Are we being true to ourselves or just echoing what others expect of us?
Finding your voice in a divided world isn’t about speaking the loudest. It’s about speaking from a place of alignment. It’s about recognizing that your worth isn’t measured by how many people agree with you.
Three Questions to Help You Anchor in Your Own Truth
Next time you feel unsure about how to engage (or whether to engage at all), ask yourself:
- Am I speaking from clarity or from reaction?
When emotions run high, it’s easy to respond impulsively. But taking a breath, giving yourself even a few moments of space, allows you to speak with intention rather than just reacting to the noise around you. - Am I expressing myself for connection or for validation?
There’s a difference between sharing our truth to build understanding and sharing it to seek approval. True empowerment comes when you no longer need others to validate what you already know inside. - Does this conversation serve me?
Not every battle is yours to fight. Not every discussion is worth your energy. It’s okay to step back when a conversation isn’t actually a conversation, when it’s only a loop of frustration, rather than an exchange of ideas.
A Meditation to Support You
If you’d like a deeper practice to help you find and trust your voice, I’ve recorded a special meditation to accompany this post, part of my live series around the 2024 U.S. elections. This guided practice is designed to help you cultivate inner confidence and express yourself from a place of steadiness rather than reactivity. It’s on YouTube and you can listen to it here.
This marks the end of our four-part series on Finding Ease in Political Differences. My hope is that these reflections have helped you feel more grounded, more at peace with who you are, and more capable of engaging with the world in a way that feels authentic to you.
If you’d like to continue exploring these ideas, my 10-day course, Positive Politics: How to Deal with Political Differences, can be taken for free when you join my membership. It offers guided reflections and practical tools to help you cultivate ease in a polarized world.
No matter what the world looks like around you, may you always remember: You are allowed to take up space. You are allowed to hold your truth with gentleness and strength. And you are allowed to rest in the knowing that you, just as you are, are enough.
Be selfgentle.
All love, Femke
Dr. Femke E. Bakker is a selfgentleness teacher and an award-winning behavioral scientist specializing in political psychology. She studies, among other things, the impact of meditation on political tolerance and was awarded the PEACE grant from the Mind & Life Institute in 2019 for her research on tolerance.
