I’m sure many of you feel like I do that the world is a mess. Mother nature is mad and is unleashing her wrath on the planet with floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes. There is lots of frustration, cynicism, judgment, anger, fear and sarcasm among humanity about politics in our country. People are trying to figure out how to navigate this weird world we live in.
And have you been feeling like you get defensive a lot? Maybe someone said something that rubbed you the wrong way and you find yourself getting defensive. Well guess what. You just put on your boxing gloves ready for a match.
I feel our dukes are up more than ever and we feel like we have to be on guard for the next big battle. People are feeling unrest, scared, hopeless all over the planet. So how do we deal with this sort of unrest? I’m talking about getting back to that place where love and peace prevail, not anger and judgment towards each other.
Well, maybe it’s time to take off the boxing gloves and turn up the music. Gather with people and enjoy each other, have fun, dance, relate, talk to each other and ask how we can do better? Ask how we can send more love and peace out to the planet. Maybe do a few random acts of kindness to set the tone of good instead of fear or anger. How can we take responsibility for our own lives instead of blaming it on others? How do we get back to peace and love like in the 60’s? Peace and love, not riots, not judging each other because of what we believe in.
I’m not perfect. I’ve had times I’ve been angry and I have blamed others for how I feel inside. But I try and be better each day. I’m the only one who has power over what happens inside of me. Not anyone else. So I notice it and work on changing it. How do I change it when I feel my dukes are up?
~~I say mantras or affirmations that speak to me and calm myself inside.
~~I apologize to the person (usually my husband) for getting defensive and then I sit and listen to him.
~~I pray or meditate for 5 minutes. I close my eyes and repeat the words “love”, “peace”, or “calm”.
~~I love to journal. I do a lot of journaling especially when I need to work through something that is bothering me.
~~I listen to uplifting music that makes me want to dance and sing. I know you have that favorite song. Play it and loud. My new favorite song is “Knee Deep” by Jimmy buffet. Check it out. It’ll get you dancing.
~~I’ll also distract myself. Distractions are great to get your mind on something else. I’ll go outside into nature, call a friend or my sister, go to the grocery store or I go to that place that brings me peace such as a bookstore, a gardening center, or a park. My husband and I will go and play pool at our favorite pool hall. Maybe you feel at peace in church or synagogue or temple. Wherever you feel uplifted, peaceful and positive, go there.
So my question to you is what do you do to change that unrest or angst inside of you? What can we, as a collective humanity, bring more love and peace into our lives and more importantly someone else’s life? And next time you find yourself with your dukes up, take off those boxing gloves and start dancing and singing?
An article I wrote to alleviate my angst
What is freedom?
It seems the meaning of freedom has been forgotten or misinterpreted in the great American experiment called a Democratic Republic.
What is freedom?
The definition from the Cambridge Dictionary: the condition or right of being able or allowed to do, say, think, etc. whatever you want to, without being controlled or limited
Freedom defined in the Declaration of Independence
encompassing the unalienable rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” asserting that governments are instituted to secure these rights and that people are free to alter or abolish a government that fails to do so.
What is the government’s role in protecting freedom as stated in the first amendment of the bill of rights
The government shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
To me freedom
allows people to feel safe and secure. People can leave their homes and not feel that they are in danger either from other people or the government.
protects people’s rights no matter their race, creed, color or sexuality
gives people the right to peacefully protest against their own government if they feel it is not serving their needs
allows people to go where you want and do what you want as long as they do not infringe on the rights of others
It is apparent that many Americans feel that they should have absolute freedom as defined in any dictionary. That would be wonderful if living this way did not infringe on the rights of others.
This is the reason for government, especially a federal government. There has to be a central body that protects not only the rights of the individual but the rights of the many. If we allowed the states to make most of the decisions, there would be inconsistencies in how people were treated. We rely on a federal government to ensure equal rights for all so if states stray there is still protection for all.
Can we look at the country now and say that each individual’s rights are being protected and just as importantly the rights of all the people in the USA. Read the words of our forefathers who began this great democratic experiment.
Benjamin Franklin – “Ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation to the prejudice and oppression of another is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy…An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every party is entitled to, and ought to enjoy.”
Abraham Lincoln – “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”
Thomas Jefferson – Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.
George Washington – While we are contending for our own liberty, we should be very cautious not to violate the conscience of others, ever considering that God alone is the judge of the hearts of men, and to Him only in this case are they answerable.
James Madison – In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.
Of all the things that the forefathers feared, tyranny was the greatest. Having fought a war against the tyranny of England, they did not want it to repeat itself. They could not foresee a future as complex and complicated as it has become in present times. Somehow that diverse group of men that initially formed this union were able to come to a consensus on an amazing vision of government. Another worry was that an uneducated populous might not be able to make the correct decisions that would maintain the glorious experiment they began. This is why education was such an important piece to a Democratic Republic. This implies that each person receives a well-rounded education and keeps up with current events so that informed decisions can be made.
Some of the great men that helped form this country knew that dangers that could arise. If you believe in their idealistic picture of this country then everyone must ask the question, ARE WE ON THE RIGHT PATH TO UPHOLD THEIR BELIEFS.
A final thought by Thomas Jefferson
Mankind soon learn to make interested uses of every right and power which they possess, or may assume. The public money and public liberty, intended to have been deposited with three branches of magistracy, but found inadvertently to be in the hands of one only, will soon be discovered to be sources of wealth and dominion to those who hold them… They [the assembly] should look forward to a time, and that not a distant one, when a corruption in this, as in the country from which we derive our origin, will have seized the heads of government, and be spread by them through the body of the people; when they will purchase the voices of the people, and make them pay the price. Human nature is the same on every side of the Atlantic, and will be alike influenced by the same causes. The time to guard against corruption and tyranny, is before they shall have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered.
Thank you Eric for your great insights into the troubling state of our country. I so appreciate your ideas and feel free to share more.
I love this post. It has some very practical ideas on how to negotiate these times!
Thank you Mary.
Thank you both for such thoughtful posts!!
Thank you for taking the time to read my posts.