By Amaya Gayle Gregory
Sedona, AZ — If you’re a rare one who is not stressed by these times we’re living through, scroll on by. This one’s not for you.
A friend dropped me a note today. She is struggling with what is happening in Gaza and is worried about the elections. The stress is debilitating. She wasn’t asking for help. She was simply telling me how her life was going and why she was having difficulty focusing on our upcoming get together.
I understand. Everybody seems to be agitated right now. After all, there is a lot going on. Of course people are fractured. It isn’t a surprise. What is surprising is when I run into someone who appears to be okay.
We are the world. Our energy cannot but be affected by the energy of our environment. That, at least for me, is a given. When we are focused outward, and forward, at what is happening around us and what might happen to us in the future, we are bound to be bound up.
So, what do you do? What’s comforting and a bit maddening is that you are already doing the best you can. If you could do something different, you would. Telling you that you should be doing something else will just add even more stress. It would also say more about me than about you.
What’s a bit gentler on the nervous system is that everything that happens to each one of us, the next book we read, tomorrow’s conversations, the thoughts that come and go, posts like this one and those that make the blood boil, add to the overall brew that is perpetually altering your experience … and each new experience impacts what you will do next. It’s called guaranteed evolution, just not always in a linear fashion.
You already know this. I’m just putting it in words.
Focusing on those things that scare you (much to your detriment and the world’s) adds more to be afraid of, more experiences that add more chaos to the collective energy patterns. Your energy patterns, being part of the whole, then pile on more stress and fear into your life’s fusion of happiness and peace, sadness and discontent.
Trying to grab ahold of peace and happiness while hooking up with fear is like a cosmic dog chasing an unattainable tail.
What we think about ads to the mix; everything does. More fear ensures there is more to fear. Seeing this, even if you don’t quite believe it, yet … it’s a bit more obvious that it would be smart to imbibe less of the toxic mix in whatever ways you can, whether it’s shutting down the world news, drug ads, political arguments, self-loathing, or whatever your drug of choice might be.
Unfortunately, most of us are so afraid of fear that we can’t or won’t see it. We call it other things: just life, how it is, how I’m made, the basic human condition, my heart’s pain and caring. It’s none of those things and you can see that whenever you are ready.
But wait you say, there’s no way I’m just going to lie down and let the world steamroll me and everyone else!
Before you get too rowdy, answer this. What does diving into hell in hopes of changing what is do, other than maintaining one more place in hell?
When you buy into the collective story, when you remain focused on all that is wrong, you’re already being steamrolled. It doesn’t have to be that way. Nothing has to be any particular way. There are tons of options, and they all aren’t necessarily what you fear. Most likely do nothing, stand by and watch while the world burns won’t be written in indelible ink on your marching orders, but who knows, for some of us it might be. This world has caves as well as communities. There’s room enough for all of us.
Whatever you are going to do can be done from a place of equanimity, with the benefit of a harmonious nervous system. Its more effective too, because it doesn’t add more pain and suffering, more anger and fear, to our overburdened world and it may just give you a way forward that is not born out of fear. Wherever the seeds of fear exist, they are guaranteed to sprout.
When you are willing to sit and be quiet and try something as simple as following the breath, your anger and frustration depletes itself. It’s not hard. All that it requires is your willingness to stop singing your current song. That’s the big ask.
From that place, what I call the neutral state, not wanting or needing life to be other than it is, your next steps most always appear. How will you know if what you hear is your fearful mind doing its thing? You might not know, especially at first, but one thing that’s a damn good sign that it’s not is that it won’t be based in blame and anger, in judgement and righteousness. It will not be based in fear.
Or … maybe you like your current tune. In that case, continue on as is until the pain gets bad enough that something changes, and new options appears.
Image: studioworkstock
Like this and want more? An in-depth deconstruction of all the stories that create the hellish experience? Check out my latest book, Actuality: infinity at play https://amzn.to/3Rd4CTY