It is Wednesday morning, November 6th. I read the news in disbelief. The American people have re-elected Donald Trump as their president. If the history of his first term repeats itself, we will face another four years of capriciousness, alternative ‘facts’, hostility, and protectionism.

I receive a first message from a friend in Arkansas: “We, the people, have elected Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States of America!! I am ecstatic!!!”

Then I read another message from a friend in the same state that had arrived earlier, even before the results were known: “I got a headache! I think I am actually more stressed by the dialogue than by the outcome. We are so very divided. There are truly two ‘Americas.’ Strange. I am ready for the drama to end—hopefully, we survive as a nation and can remain whole. Division will destroy us, there’s no doubt. That’s the headache.”

Both experiences exist simultaneously and are equally ‘true’ for them. How do I navigate this? In line with the approach of transformational presence, the question that comes to mind is: if I accept what is (however difficult, but the outcome is the outcome), what is the invitation for me in this? As I immediately wrote in the app group with my worldwide Transformational Presence colleagues, I can only think of one thing: “to continue to be Love, Always and Everywhere!”

That’s not an easy task, and certainly not a given that I will always be able to be that. But it is a simple task in itself. I can focus my attention on what I can influence. And if I influence anything, it is how I show up. What energy do I radiate? Who am I in relationship to another person?

I intend that this attitude, this energy, be Love. Now more than ever. I feel a call to create a world together in which we repeatedly recognize ourselves in the other. As columnist Peter Middendorp wrote in the Dutch newspaper ‘The Volkskrant’ on Wednesday: “Once we have seen ourselves in the other, there’s no stopping the flow of love.”

What is your invitation? Who are you called to be in relationship to this outcome?

I wish you much strength and dedication in the coming time to express that invitation fully!