We’ve been absorbing news of violence and suffering daily on the news. Using our iPhones, and iPads we are permeated with the electrical buzz of hatred, retaliation and tragedy. Our nervous systems are filling up with contamination. Are there ways to live that can help this?
Phrases Posted on Facebook, October 2025
The disheartening onslaught of the online world in its plastic containers eats up my spirit. I give myself a little daily silence to reclaim an interiority where I am truer to myself. Gandi lived in turbulent times. He spent one day a week in silence. Embracing frequent doses of silence is a classical way that can be of help.
What can help is a daily awareness of the goodness that we have even if it is limited. Nature (even in cities there are trees we can hug), water to drink, the simple kindness of others towards us and ours to them. A habit of sharing for “to them that have (and share) more shall be given”. These ways cannot eliminate the huge issues we face, but awareness of grace does help balance worry and despair.
Any time we can spend being immersed in nature helps more than we can ever know. When I can’t get out for whatever reason, I sit by an open window and let a breeze from the outside come in and find me, bringing me the companionship of the nearby trees and the song of birds. It helps so much!
Some of us are very lucky to have a friend that really understands us. Cultivating an open-hearted relationship with someone is one of the most precious ways that can help. It requires trust and shared vulnerability. Such friendships need time. They can’t be hurried and are ultimately a shared gift.
If there is any quality that can get us through tough times with ourselves or with others it is gentleness. It’s the only thing I know that can begin to quiet fear. If we are gentle with ourselves, we are more likely to extend gentleness to others.
Now that I am a senior citizen, I need to stop often. That little pause to rest a minute or two is like a period after a unit of effort. I like to call it “Stop and Flop”. Doing just that is a huge help in balancing being and doing.
Whenever I am down, I find that what helps are two things: going for a walk or engaging with anything to move the body. and doing something for someone else.
We might resent our chores, the things we must do to pay the bills, wash dishes, make the bed, sweep the floor, go to work. They are stabilizers and should have our respect instead. To have a routine helps a lot when the going is rough.
What can help? Turning inward to listen to the still small voice within not just now and then when we feel we are in trouble or for some other reason, but daily. To listen like that is to be in companionship with something greater than our fears and aspirations. It is what can guide and inspire our lives into greater being and becoming.
Here’s a quote I like by Pir Elias Amidon, a Sufi: “If you keep describing the world that way, it will be just as you say.”. Kinder words create a kinder world.
Remember the word “kin” is in the word kindness. Treating our world with kinship makes for kindness and that always helps.
Why not experiment to see what will happen when you consistently use kind words? Something worthy will surely happen and that will help.
The oldest part of the brain is always on the lookout for what might be threatening. One of the most helpful things is to make order in a drawer, a closet, a briefcase or a desktop. Anything, it doesn’t matter what it is. It calms the old part of the brain and lets the more creative parts have room to come up with solutions that are not based on fear.
It is helpful to make a morning list of what we believe needs to be done that day. It could also be an evening list for the following day. Besides the “have
to” items it’s important to put something pleasurable on the list even if it is a small thing. We are not meant to be drudges! I also like to intend a quality I wish to infuse the day’s doings with. It could be gentleness, humor, peace, curiosity etc. Over time I have come to believe this to be the most important thing on my list.
Thich Nhat Hahn, the revered Vietnamese meditation teacher, was a great proponent of the smile. He taught us to smile because smiling activates positivity in the body on many levels. It also lifts our spirits. Besides when we smile, we also help others. It’s a small thing to do, but it helps in wonderful ways.
I mentioned before what a huge help it is to pause for a few seconds after doing a unit of work, like after making a meal or paying bills, etc. The body is always 3 seconds behind the mind. When we give it the courtesy of catching up, we not only acknowledge that we completed something, but we have also given ourselves a moment to regenerate. In a whole day this will not be more than a few minutes of courtesy. We will be sure to feel much better because of it.
