When the news is dominated with stories of war, crisis and atrocities it can be easy to feel sad, overwhelmed and hopeless.
This article landed in my inbox this morning and I thought it was relevent. Particularly the second meditation, ‘Know What You Can Control’.
There is war and darkness, but there is also so much love and light in the world The people standing up in the face of adversity. The charities and random act of kindness and neighbours helping each other out. All the people on this forum supporting each other. All of that matters so much. And all our bits of love and light, however small they might seem, they matter too.
What brings you hope in hard times? How do you respond when the world feels overwhelming?
That’s very hard for you, sending you love… You are absolutely doing the right thing to drown out the sorrow. I feel it’s my absolute duty as a person to seek the truth or facts about what’s happened, but I have to draw the line at absorbing too much around that.
For instance, BBC news do this kind of BREAKING NEWS drum beat announcement and quite often if I’ve left my speakers on from listening to music it will Bluetooth the announcement through. Then my iPad will, then my wife’s iPad will, then… It’s triggering and I realised yesterday that this is always needling a stress fracture in me since the non stop news of doom during the pandemic.
Turn off whatever notifications you have to and start positive. Prayers for Ukraine
My friend’s sister is a journo in Ukraine. He lives in Berlin so not much I can do but trying to keep in touch and offer moral support.
I do find I absorb quite a lot of anxiety about world events even when they don’t directly affect me. Although of course the closer to home, the higher the anxiety!
Have been struggling to unplug from the news but setting aside a bit of time to do a jigsaw, go for a walk, listen to music etc has been helping. I have a big jungle music playlist that is my go to!
Being a recovering news junkie, I have to keep telling myself that I must focus on what I can control, doing things like reviewing the budget to make sure we can afford the inevitable price spikes that occur when something major is happening elsewhere, or discussing current events with my daughter so all of the context isn’t shaped by her peers or the web.
And I have to live my sober life. Yes, there are bad things happening and great uncertainty in Europe. I can pray for the people impacted by it, and I can donate to reputable international relief organizations. Beyond that, I still have to work, teach my martial arts students, be a husband and father. This will have zero impact on my sobriety. I feel for those with friends and family over there, whose worries might tempt them to drink. Don’t do it. It won’t make the situation better. Drinking will only make your situation worse.
Last night I had my belly dance class. I chose to start the class with some slow and gentle movement, syncing it up with the breath.
I can’t help the people suffering around the world by being anxious, overwhelmed, feeling guilty about my safety and security etc. I can spread some of my tools for combating anxiety with people I know though. Very helpful for me to put them into practice too! And have a space to come together, dance and find some happiness in the moment.
I have been practicing Tonglen Compassion Meditations and sharing the practice with people. I strongly believe that the more positive energy we flood this planet with the better chance we have to snuff out the negativity.
This is a good intro one if anyone is interested and isnt familiar with this type of meditation, it’s on Insight Timer. I am sure you could find them anywhere though.
The people standing up in the face of adversity. The charities and random act of kindness and neighbours helping each other out. All the people on this forum supporting each other. All of that matters so much. And all our bits of love and light, however small they might seem, they matter too.
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