In this blog I’m going to explore what we can do when the world looks so scary and frightening; full of fear & war.
On Saturday my husband and I had an amazing conversation about our responsibility at this time of apparent world instability. It occurred to me that it might be useful to share that here for anyone feeling like they want to ‘do’ something.
Look after your inner world
The first thing that strikes me is the responsibility we have to ourselves and others to preserve our inner peace and wellbeing.
Each one of us has the capacity to choose what we surround ourselves with.
We can choose to watch the news multiple times a day and feel helpless. We can choose to be on social media and complain about the negativity there. But ultimately we have choice. If you don’t like what people share on social media, stop following those people and follow people who share what you do like.
If you find yourself feeling anxious, worried, angry or hopeless from watching the news, stop watching or listening to the news just because it comes on, and instead seek out what you’d like to know instead.
And no this doesn’t mean becoming passive. It is far harder to turn away from fear and hate than it is to go along with it. Try it. How much easier is it to get caught up in moaning vs stepping away from it, for example?
Choose how you operate
It means that rather than operating from fear, you are choosing the state from which you act from.
How effective are you at making good choices when you are afraid or angry?
When was the last time you made a good decision from fear or reactivity?
I don’t believe that any of us operate ‘sanely’ when we are scared or angry.
From a place of fear, we respond with fear. Actions that come from fear or anger are full of fear and anger and perpetuate fear and anger.
If someone shouts at you and you shout back what happens? More shouting.
But is someone shouts at you and you don’t respond, what happens? The anger subsides because it isn’t being ‘fed’.
So it looks to me like a ‘responsible’ reaction to the current world situation is to maintain, or strengthen my inner peace and stability. The actions that naturally flow from there will create peace and stability in the ‘outer’ world.
In the words of JP Morgan:
“Our thoughts both create and emerge from emotions. These emotions influence our actions, behaviours and character.
Our actions create the world directly. Our behaviour and character influence the actions others take and thus create the world indirectly.”
I guess the ultimate question is, what kind of world do you want to create?
If it is one that is filled with peace and love then start by cultivating that within you. If it’s one of fear and hate then cultivate that.
Notice the dialogue in your mind – is it one of fear & war?
Is the dialogue in your mind (the narrator of life) one of encouragement or distain? For most of my life mine ran on disgust.
Nothing I could do was ‘right’ and whatever I did was not good enough. Not only that, but it was forever feeding me fearful messages about what might happen in the future.
There was fear & war within me (and still is sometimes!).
I wrote about this in an article called What Emotional Diet Are You On And How Is It Affecting You Physically?
Once again, the route to a peaceful world seems to start with us. With healing the fear & war within us.
How would it be to make a commitment now to experiencing no ‘violent’ thoughts towards yourself or another? Would that be the start of peace on earth?
If this is something you’d like to explore further please do get in touch.
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