Self and Community with Shelly Tygielski

Shelly Tygielski is author of Sit Down to Rise Up: How Radical Self-Care Can Change the World. She is the founder of Pandemic of Love, an organization responsible for raising over $60 million to help individuals since the COVID pandemic began. Here she describes her journey starting at a low point in her life, as a divorced, single mother, suffering from a medical condition that resulted in blindness. Through insight meditation she gradually learned how to address the chaotic sources of low self-esteem in her life and assume responsibility, not only for herself, but for a much larger community. Her fundamental values include the need to show up with love and compassion—even for those whose politics, religion, or sexual orientation may be different from hers.