"I share this because I doubt that I'm the only overachieving activist who is vulnerable to being both discouraged, and mean-spirited toward my political opposites."

I appreciate that. I've been thinking a lot lately about how unsettled my spirit is with what's going on in Washington and the world. I hate that President Trump and his caustic way of dealing with reality has become so much a part of my consciousness, and I hate even more that my impulse has become to respond in kind. I know that's a downward spiral of futility.

Knowing how to confront all this negativity without being consumed by it is a challenge and, at the moment, I have no answers, other than to retreat more conscientiously into personal prayer. At least within my own spirit it is quiet, and that's a commodity in short supply these days.