Friends, this morning after my news browsing, I know how a feathered shuttlecock must feel as it’s hit back and forth across a Badminton court.
Some of the issues I encountered were: the launch of a North Korean rocket with the satellite on board, the U.N.’s huffing and puffing about the firing of the rocket, the inability of the U.N. to decide whether the firing actually broke any resolutions, Obama’s call for nuclear disarmament, the caning of a woman in an Arab country for sexual misconduct, the removal of photographic images of women members of Netanyahu’s cabinet by Ultra-Orthodox Jewish newspapers (showing women is considered to be immodest), more suicide bombings in Pakistan, more arrests of Bikie gang members in Australia, the collapse of an ice shelf, the killing of seals in Scotland because they damage salmon nets, etc, etc.
As I was bombarded with item after item my spirits rose and fell just like the hapless shuttlecock. Back and forth, up and down I went. Would I write a post on this issue or that? Should I combine two or three different topics? Should I use satire or straight commentary? What photographs would be appropriate? What position should I take? By the time I was finished I had a stress pain in my chest!
What struck me was the importance of compartmentalizing one’s life.
Given the stressful nature of our world and the uncertainty of tomorrow it is necessary to seal yourself off from the world around you for long periods of time. If you don’t, you will become anxious and stressed which will prove bad for your health and your happiness. It can even become life-threatening.
Create a safe environment where you can retreat from the world, block it out. It could be in the bath or a little-used room, a garden nook or in a nearby park or forest or even an isolated beach. What suits you will be unique to you. What is important is that you’re alone, that the environment is non-threatening, serene, quiet, a place of beauty. Use flowers, quiet music, thick curtains, incense, candles to add to the rejuvenating effect of withdrawing.
Likewise, set up another compartment where you can meet others in a happy environment, perhaps at a golf club or a social club or a walking club. Make sure that environment is lighthearted, happy, convivial, one that avoids heavy discussions about the world and its ills. This will then become another compartment that you can retreat to.
There are many compartments that might suit you (gardening, listening to music, photography) and how many you need is up to you. The important thing is to break the hold that over-concern about the world can have on you.
Push the world away. Regularly move from compartment to compartment. Don’t carry the world on your back all the time.
It’s too heavy! It will crush you!
i do just that david. but for me the escape is in the form of yoga and watching nature/wildlife and tending my ‘small’ garden. because i believe there isn’t much chance for this bunch of homo sapiens to get their act together. we are too far down the road to turn back now. maybe the next lot (if there are any) will get it right………….hopefully.
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David good morning…To heal from the effects of stress and balance our energy fields all those ways of dealing with life issues work for me also.Qi Gong works well for me along with regular monthly acupuncture ..(speeds the process). We are all connected and as we each learn to care for ourselves we literally benefit the many. Kate
Coco..Spring is here , enjoy your garden-Hope is eternal–Kate
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Crushed is what I am feeling most days. The news is 90% depressing and what is good news I am sure has a dark side that they are not telling us.
Everyday living is stressful. Worrying about money and how much everthing costs and will we have enough when my husband retires wears me down.
Like coco getting outside in nature taking care of my garden are wonderful ways to reduce the stress.
Spending time with my grandson is a great help too. That is if I stay in the moment; it is too easy to start worrying about what his future will be.
One thing that bothers me is that I know things will get worse, but not how much worse.
What do I do to prepare? What should I prepare for? How bad is it going to get?
The answers are all over the place and no one really seems to have any certian answers which makes planning for the future very difficult.
Somedays I feel like I am going crazy!
Think I’ll go for a walk and enjoy some spring.
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Grim “news”, as the leaders are all living the lie and know it. The way to get ahead.
Not upbeat to be outnumbered 1:10,000 and know you are right, and on the side of decency and intelligence, but both are rationed and scarce commodities.
King Obama’s call for nuclear disarmament. This is so that when the members of the PTB lodge come out of their bunkers after the next the real war (three days), there won’t be much left but at least all the food is not radioactive contaminated. Also, a few peons/coolies/lackeys will be still be around to clean the johns.
If you want “news” that shares your views, go to
http://axisoflogic.com/frontpage.shtml
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
Still grim of course, but not living the lie.
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To whoever made the hydrogen/nuclear bomb…and whoever made guns/F16′S/war tanks
What the hell were they thinking?
What positive outcome were they trying to accomplish?
Im guessing that other animals are intelligent enough to design nuclear weapons but are not stupid enough to do it, unlike…you know who???
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Coco, yoga is a great way to tune out. Thanks for the idea.
Kate, Qi Gong has many benefits along with other types of Chinese spiritual exercises.
Jeannie, making your grandson’s life a little happier is a great way to lift your own spirits.
Ken, sometimes we have to tell ourselves little lies in order to keep hope going.
Irfaan, those that designed such weapons had no morals and no conscience. These days the world seems filled with such people. It all changed when the philosophy of ‘self-first’ became popular.
Cheers.
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Did you see the new laser just finished at Laurence Livermore.? The Largest laser ever. What will it be used for?
“After more than a decade of work and $3.5 billion, engineers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have completed the world’s most powerful laser, capable of simulating the energy force of a hydrogen bomb and the sun itself.
The laser “will be a cornerstone” of the weapons stewardship program “ensuring the continuing reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile without underground nuclear testing,”
This is the greatest thing our scientists in the lovely Bay area of San Francisco have developed. It scares me that so many of our most intelligent citizens are engaged in developing these weapons of war.
My son is seven today. We will spend all day tomorrow at the biggest kids science museum in S.F.called the Exploratorium. You know where I am headed with this so… I also make him practice his piano eeryday and maybe he will run off and be a musician. Ah, a parent can dream.
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coco Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 9:41 am
grace, these mad ‘scientists’ have been working with lasers for eons now………
why do we want another sun?
what is their purpose?
we can’t even feed the whole planet………………….
it’s just too sick to contemplate.
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My step-father had been a communist in the 1950′s. (!) As a result of his politics, we always had reading materials everywhere telling the truth about our Govt. I grew up with the same understanding I have now and it was what made me at home with artists and rebels. When Reagan “couldn’t remember” I didn’t believe he didn’t remember, because I was there, A nobody compared to the President and I KNEW, I could remember the picures I saw and the tales that accompanied the murders and corruption in Central America.
I went through a stage where I was filled with doomsday, could barely function. What’s the point? attitude.
Then slowly I tapped into the living world. The world of nature. Wisdom, connections, being. It didn’t just save my life. It gave me a new life. Learning Tibetan Buddhism helped to understand the breath in the body and learn to have access to my mind through it. Learning from native americans who are choosing to remember how to live in harmony with the earth, time spent with them in nature taught me about the present moment and my true location. The living world is always there. The places that are still wild are calling to the wild in us to live in harmony and exist.
There was a saying going around a little while ago: (paraphrased short version) Q: Which dog will live? Answer: The one you feed.
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What will be, will be. Que sera sera. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a Gift….that’s why they call it the “Present.” Why concern yourself with things in which you have absolutely no control? Worrying about yesterday or what shall be tomorrow, is a waste of one’s time and energy. Which is better spent on how well one can live TODAY!
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Grace–thank you for your wisdom..I need to know once in a while there are people out there and they are like us and in great numbers…I believe in the “web that has no weaver”..I have faith there is more going on than we can grasp and it will be for our evolutionary spiritual destiny that the destruction of all our institutions is necessary..we let it slide in the 60″s and 70″s and sold out to possessing things..so now we must do it all again..person to person…I am older and more tired but see no way out but stepping up with all the goodness, wisdom and strength I have until I can do no more…Kate
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Grace, I just finished playing the piano for an hour. It’s wonderful to create music so I hope your boy perseveres with it. And I agree with Kate about being thankful for your wisdom.
Art, living in and for the moment is sound advice. Of course, like many things, it’s easier to say than to do.
Kate, the world wears sensitive, caring people like us out. I call it world-weary. Today for me is an up-day and I feel that anything is possible. I’ve had a few down-days recently.
What tomorrow will be for me is unknown but I’ll ride with whatever comes and feel thankful for being able to shares things with such wonderful friends as congregate on this blog.
May peace touch all of you!
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I think the regulars on your site can tell from your content if you are up or down…balance being the only sane option and hopefully we all help you and each other reach that state of “grace”..balance..hmmmm..Kate..think I will go plug my circuit in with Qi Gong.
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Gee, Kate, and here I thought I hid it so well!
Getting involved with the world’s problems is not a good recipe for happiness, I guess. But we who care have no choice!
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