I don’t read the news. With the exception of the token special interest story about the cranberry bog that got rehabilitated back into a beautiful stream or love life of British royalty, the news is not what I want to feed into my brain. The headlines are all variations of the same theme “…makes it a whole lot worse.”, “clashes leave injured…”, “…body found…” All fear and the bad stuff that happens. Even the weather reports lately have been scary as our planet seems to be fighting back at us. I am conscious of the fertile ground that I have in my mind, and I focus on feeding it what I know it needs in order for me to maintain a sense of peace. If I start focusing on all the pain and fighting and conflict, it puts me in a place where I need to protect myself, hoard my stuff, lock my doors, and prepare for the worst. I don’t want to be in that place. I instead choose to look at the love that is all around me, in spite of what the news reports. I focus on doing everything I do from a place of kindness and love, and feed my mind by reading every day.
I am not saying that there is not a lot of scary stuff going on in our world, but to let myself get sucked in to the fear mindset closes off my access to the place where I can be part of the solution. I wonder if I am too small, just one person, to make a difference. But then I remind myself of the connectivity of all things, and I know that the small, moment by moment acts of kindness will have a ripple effect and help to make the world a little better. I see so much good, in spite of the news. There are so many people that are working to help shift our world, and it is happening, little by little. There will come a tipping point where the love will finally surround the fear, but only by loving, never by fighting.