I have trouble reckoning with the many feelings that emerge for me during national presidential election cycles. 

Our wonderfully complicated yet surprisingly lazy brains like things to be as simple and binary and dualistic as possible, and we often think and make decisions from our “lizard brain.” This unfortunate reality makes things especially difficult when making decisions in a binary, dualistic political system.  

Our brains desire for things to be straightforward, this or that, right or wrong. Unfortunately, or possibly ironically, (I still hesitate before using that word because Alanis’ song greatly confused me, what with all the examples of sheer bad luck versus actual irony), in my forty years of experiencing life as a human in this wild world almost everything is instead completely non-binary, non-dualistic, nuanced, layered, complicated.  

We would do well to take a step back and consider healthy and rational strategies to implement as we attempt to take in and sift through the overwhelming inundation of information—and misinformation—coming at us at all times. Here are some strategies and tips to consider:

• Do some fact checking. We have endless information sources at our fingertips. Use them. We must remember, though, what our high school English and library teachers taught us when considering the validity and credibility of sources. Don’t be lazy, and don’t succumb to the temptation of only reading/listening to what feels comfortable or familiar. Seek spaces outside preferred echo chambers. My favorite voice of reason is professor Heather Cox Richardson, an American historian with an incredible ability to parallel situations today with past U.S. political history with savant-like recolletion, accuracy, sense, and insight. Dan Rather also has decades-worth of experience in American politics. Tangle and The Flip Side are good places to explore. Sometimes I think to myself, “This is boring,” when reading Tangle or The Flip Side. Boring is good.    

• Get familiar with Project 2025. The president-elect’s name is in the document over 300 times, though if people are criticizing it, he likes to claim he knows nothing about it. If you don’t have the time or energy to read the 900+ pages, at least find a summary. There is no excuse not to know about Project 2025 if you voted in the 2024 election.   

• Seek out voices of people who come from different backgrounds than you. A couple of my favorites include Kareem and my friend Rozella. 

• Make a point to use critical thinking skills. When you find yourself feeling concern or confusion consider your resources, and then use those resources. Find an actual person to have a conversation with in person, via Zoom, or even on a phone call. Not through social media threads.  

• Don’t settle for scrolling through a social media platform or news feed of choice and pull, repeat, and re-post non-contextual quotes, memes, and opinions. Pulling quotes out of context—secularly and especially scripturally—for the purpose of “proving” a point or judging others’ actions is dangerous and irresponsible.  

• Intentionally seek out spaces where you can explore and learn about actions, decisions, and situations using factual examination and reflection and not places that use fear-based strategies specifically constructed to hijack us emotionally, putting us in irrational states of mind. 

• Be aware of our implicit biases. We all carry implicit biases no matter what. This is not something to get offended or defensive about, but instead a reality and something to learn more about and to set awareness around. 

• Watch The Social Dilemma and remember that social media platforms are algorithmically designed to cater to our thought patterns and interests so that we stay on them as long as possible. To be clear: social media platforms have absolutely no interest in providing varying perspectives, actual facts, or logic of any kind; they simply want our attention. It is our responsibility to pay attention to our social media use, patterns, and habits and how interacting on those platforms affects our thoughts, feelings, and actions. The concern we have surrounding our young people and setting boundaries surrounding devices and social media goes for us as well. 

• Use and trust our own common sense. When outside stimuli—something we hear, read, witness, et cetera—does hijack our emotions, take note of the hijacking and stop to consider what is happening and why. Constantly consider how to grow in self awareness. 

• Consider why that outside stimuli bothers us. Of course it is self preservation, but we should be able to push ourselves to dig deeper, beyond that human survival/lizard brain instinct. We need to remember to ask ourselves something like, “How does/will this affect me?” this person, this decision, this result, et cetera. 

• Dig into scripture or philosophy or poetry or fiction (if you are having trouble finding some place to start, look up some banned book lists) that urges us to think critically and opens us up to new awareness. Anytime I discover a new awareness about myself it is always uncomfortable. Work on being okay with that discomfort, keep exploring, and work to figure out why that makes us uncomfortable and what we can learn from it. Each and every time I am willing to sit in and reflect on the discomfort that a new personal awareness brings—I really know I am on to something when I learn something new about myself and my blink reaction is to be offended or defensive—I end up being pleasantly surprised and amazed at a human’s potential for boundless growth cognitively, emotionally, and spiritually. 

• Refrain from using binary statements. We remind our kids often that rarely does something “always” or “never” happen or is “always” or “never” a certain way. Start noticing your own language patterns and take time to reflect on what you notice. 

• Ponder, pray, meditate: find a way that helps you reset and reorient to who you are designed to be and how you want to show up in the world. 

• Know where sources of information, observation, or opinion stem. By all means, explore different spaces, just be aware of where each source is on the left-center-right spectrum and consider where people are coming from. Be responsible and use common sense. 

• Attempt to show up with a posture of curiosity and a posture of humility. Yes, each individual is important, but life is and has to be more about the “we” than the “me.” 

• Don’t let yourself only tune in to the same information outlets, and please, please do not let 24-hour news-scrolling outlets like Fox News or MSNBC play constantly in the background of your home or office. Consider the affect that has on our subconscious. Networks exist to procure and grow ratings in order to make money and of course have media biases. Keep in mind the part that rhetoric and propaganda play. News scrolls exist for the same reason social media exists and want us to stay addicted to them. 

• Ask ourselves: How have I—and my family, community members, town, state, etc.—been affected after and because of past elections? Have I been affected? Be honest. If we cannot pinpoint something that has changed for us and our families one way or another, consider the reality that we are privileged. This is again not something to be defensive of or offended by. I name and acknowledge my privilege and try to remember that with great privilege comes great responsibility, to myself and to others. 

• Be wary of people, especially people in powerful leadership positions—religiously, politically, or otherwise—who tell you that something is “right” or “wrong.” Be wary of absolutes. 

• Be wary of messages that strike fear in you. Is that intentional? Why? Why is fear being used as a motivator here? Be aware of the chronic use of fear-mongering in our society. 

• Seek common ground. Seek unity. Most of us I believe do this anyway, in our day to day encounters, so consider why we act and respond so differently when it comes to national politics and the way we interact with others on social media.

• What are my non-negotiables? Where do I draw the line (e.g., it’s okay to get drunk sometimes, people can get divorced and that’s fine because it just happens, or we can use the Lord’s name in vain, but when a young man doesn’t feel attracted to girls or a kiddo doesn’t feel comfortable in their own skin then that is where I draw the line). 

• Why does this bother me? Why am I upset or possibly (likely?) offended? Seek to be “un-offendable;” if you do find yourself feeling offended easily, there is likely a lot of growth opportunity there.

At the end of the day, we are more alike than different. And we can do better.