In this special Sunday wellness edition of Zenocracy, I’m joined by marriage and family therapist Patricia (“Patty Ann”) and hospital social worker and wellness expert Ritu to tackle a question so many of us are quietly asking: how do we protect our mental health while living through nonstop political chaos?
We move beyond abstract advice and get painfully specific. What do you do when you’re enraged by a Supreme Court ruling being ignored? When you watch videos of people being killed and can’t unsee it? When you see a five-year-old child used as bait in an ICE arrest and feel completely broken?
Instead of dismissing anger or sadness, we break down a step-by-step approach: acknowledge the emotion, name it, notice how it’s affecting your body, discharge the stress physically, and then use simple breathwork to reset your nervous system. Ritu guides us through a practical breathing exercise designed to bring you back to center in under two minutes.
This conversation isn’t about pretending everything is fine. It’s about staying grounded enough to act effectively — instead of burning out, shutting down, or losing ourselves to outrage.
If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed, this one’s for you.
