How To Be the Change We Wish to Be

I recently had a dream where I was around a few people up on this balcony in an arena, and they were all in agony and crying looking down below at the scene that unfolded. I looked below to see what they had seen that was causing this. They were watching two people dying and in pain. While this was sad, I knew that I didn’t need to watch it, or put my attention to this, and refused to watch the gruesome scene. It was a tragedy, but I knew I didn’t need to be in pain.

As I came back to my waking life, I realized this is an analogy of what I’ve been thinking about with people caught up in the news (whether it’s mainstream or alternative), and how it seems to me, it just feeds more fear, and I see that people experience more pain the more they focus on these outer events they we have no control over. This isn’t just a coincidence. Our bodies don’t know the difference between a stressful movie we watch, or a stressful real event in our lives. Either way, we experience stress: our adrenaline pumps, and our body is negatively impacted with our ability to digest. If we watch these things during a meal, the body won’t be able to ‘rest and digest’, and the cascade of stress hormones in the body flares up pain, and continues feeding the bad bacteria, parasites and toxins. We can’t heal and rest the mind or the body if we are always worried or in fear.

So what’s the solution? We all need to take breaks from the media. No matter if we feel we need to stay abreast of current events, it’s important to take in small amounts. Every time I experience more stress in my life, it’s either because there’s drama with someone in my life, or I’ve been watching some drama in the news. And I get it, I’m not saying it’s always best to ignore these things. We all have to come to a place of resolve though where we see that none of us can save the world. And certainly by staying in fear about things, we aren’t going to make the world a better place. We do however want to take action steps towards the things we care about, and that matter to us. At the same time, we must maintain healthy boundaries. And life tests us with these boundaries. So we can get out of balance when caring for a loved one, or getting involved in a volunteer effort, etc. And it’s important to always come back to center and see how to move forward when we once again feel the stress rising up. So taking a break from the media at least one day a week is a very good balance. For some of you sensitives, you’ll need to stay off media more days than not. And I suggest going from time to time with taking a week off (or at least a few days) as well. This may be something to work up to, but I guarantee, you’ll feel better if you do. And while you do eat, be sure and not watch or read things that are upsetting, or have those challenging conversations either.

When we feel our best, we go out into the world with our families, our communities, and we ARE our best. And when we do, then we are the change. We all know how good ripples out into the world. What will you do that is good for you, to make a difference today?