Intentionality
By Yvonne Garrett
Hello Everyone! I’m Yvonne C. Garrett, currently serving as Student Minister at Community Church where I’m also a member. A second generation UU, I’m an Aspirant for UU ministry, studying at Starr King. I’m also a long-time New Yorker. I live below 14th street in Manhattan on the top floor of an old tenement building. Part of my daily practice is walking during my lunch break.
As someone who’s had mobility issues in the past, I’m always thankful for the times when I can walk and I try to never take my mobility for granted. After our Sunday services at Community Church, I often walk the thirty blocks down to my neighborhood, stopping along the way to talk to some of the folks who live on our streets. For those who want to talk, I listen and for those who need water or food, I provide what I can. It’s a practice I began years ago when I first moved to the Lower East Side.
There was a man named Charlie who lived on the sidewalk and loved to read. I’d talk to him about books and bring him different reading options. When one day he was gone and didn’t come back, I worried about him and felt the hole in my life. I didn’t know what had happened or how to find out. Of course now I know that there are organizations that do the hard work of providing services for NYC’s massive unhoused population - it’s an overwhelming job. And this is something that so many people I talk to who have a home, a job, and choose to care often say: “it’s overwhelming.” Yes, it is. One of the ways I try to keep from feeling overwhelmed or - worse - becoming numb to the suffering of my neighbors, is to do “tiny, doable things” - whether that’s giving one person water or just having a conversation with an unhoused neighbor.
It won’t “fix” larger systemic issues but it might help that person a little bit - even if just for that moment. It’s not about making myself feel like I’m “doing something” but instead, it’s just taking the time to live my theology in the world - to be a better human and a better neighbor.
As I shift into a busy year of work, studies, service, and more, I try to remind myself that, as a Humanist, I need to remember the common threads of countering oppression and building community - right here, right now, every day - are essential to my belief system and my own well-being.
In seminary, a lot of folks ask me how I do self-care without a belief in a divine being. Intentionality in my life, centering myself in a space of love and hope are foundational to how I live in the world. Seminary has taught me that there are many ways to be spiritual just as there are many ways to be UU.
Some of the ways I make space for the spiritual in my life include meditation, listening to music, reading and writing poetry - but I’ve also learned that some of the regular physical activities I do can also support my spiritual self: walking, hiking, and even boxing.
Connecting with my body - a space that has sometimes been painful and difficult - can provide me with moments of uplift, clarity, even transcendence. And with the fall weather coming (yay!!), I look forward to those moments in the city and in the Hudson Highlands where I can pause and acknowledge the depth of beauty in our trees, our parks, our rivers, and our forests.
