Breaking the Fifth

A talk about the Signal group chat, of course, but in the context of the larger experience of dealing with people who will never be accountable. People who will look you directly in the eye and lie to you, or deny wrongdoing and then attack you - or anyone else - when called out. People who will assert you did not see what you saw, or hear what you heard. Maybe you know people like this, I do. It is exhausting and disheartening to deal with them, because without honest communication and the ability to acknowledge mistakes, there’s no bridge to stand on. The sub-topic here is men who feel entitled to take what they want, and become furious if you question them. What happens when the country is being run by a cabinet full of people like this, and their supporters remain steadfast? Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

A reading of this week’s essay, and a talk about those relationships that devastate your heart because you’re in love with someone who leaves you no choice but to end things. When you look back you realize you were being tested from the start - you were being asked to tolerate things you never should have - and in the end the only choice was the pain that poisons you, or the pain that sets you free. And how that all ties into what’s happening in our country right now, the Fifth Amendment, due process, motherhood, and how a place can call younger versions of you to the surface, so you find yourself joined in the drivers’ seat by a twenty-something you, with your daughter in the passenger seat. Come As You Are is my third baby. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

A talk about the pain of living in a country where half the people look at a set of circumstances and feel horrified, and the other half look at the same set of circumstances and celebrate. And the difficulty in communicating when all trust in facts has been eroded and people give the same credence to anyone with a YouTube channel as they do to medical experts - often more. Also the concept of turning your heartbreak into art, the importance of continuing to learn new things, and why you want to hold onto hope wherever you find it - even in a Big Bear Bald Eagle nest.Come As You Are is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

A talk about the pain and folly of trying to communicate with people who genuinely lack empathy, the frustration of feeling gaslit by people who claim to love you, and why it was so triggering for so many of us to watch a good man be double-teamed by two narcissists in the Oval Office … and walk away dealing with the most victim-blaming question of them all. What was he wearing? Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

A talk about what it’s like existing as a girl or woman in this world, and particularly in this country if you’re in the United States. And when I say “woman” I am including women who have babies, women who decide they don’t want to have children, women who deal with infertility, women who have lost babies, women who have raised babies on their own, Queer women, Black women, Brown women, Indigenous women, Transgender women. How hard it is just to exist in a complicated body, made more complicated by the way the world (the government, the state you live in, your governor, your culture, your family) deals with your body, feels it can pass legislation about your body, teaches you to feel shame about your body, and also normalizes the behavior of some men who feel they have a right to your body. It is exhausting and enraging, and more so all the time. Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

A talk about what we’re living through in the United States right now, and how dizzying it is for so many of us who are devastated, outraged and heartbroken, to see people in this country who are still on board with what is occurring in real time. It is hard to exist, to have a “normal” day going about your business when your government is in upheaval, democracy is on the line, and you’re scared for your friends, your neighbors, your daughter, yourself. It’s also a talk about empathy, and what a meaningful spiritual practice looks like. If you can see people in harms’ way and shrug your shoulders thinking you are practicing non-attachment, or because you’ve decided some people fall outside the circle of compassion - I’d argue your spiritual practice needs a serious tweak. Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

A talk about why it can take Herculean effort to advocate for yourself, to speak up when you’re hurting (or when you’re happy, sometimes), to put a value on the work you do - and why it’s worth it to push through, even though it can be so uncomfortable. Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

Thank you Cabot O'Callaghan, Danny Hoback, Prof's Progress, Rosie O'Regan, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

You know those disaster movies when a group of six people knows a cataclysmic disaster is coming, and they have hours to warn humanity? And everyone is at a picnic, laughing, or in a movie theater, or park, or just going about their business, and somehow these six people are racing around trying to save the world - and no one is really understanding what’s about to happen? That’s a little bit how it feels to be in America right now for a lot of us. Not all of us, of course, because I guess that would make it too damn easy to save the world. But it’s been pretty strange for those of us who care about things like the Constitution and democracy and basic human empathy. If you’ve been struggling, I hope this will help. Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

Years ago, I was volunteering in my daughter’s kindergarten classroom and I found myself sitting next to a five-year-old girl who understood more about empathy and compassion than any spiritual teacher I’ve met before or since. This is a talk about where we are in this country and this world - it’s a conversation about DEI and a whirlwind of other issues some of us are working hard to defend in the United States, but underneath all of that, it’s a conversation about basic human decency. There continues to be a lot of gaslighting out there, and sometimes it helps to call things what they are, so I did that. And I also talked about ways to take care of your nervous system, be mindful about your online consumption, protect your sanity, and stoke your joy. Those are all forms of resistance, too. Sending you love, friends. Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe