For those out there who may be fully consumed with the bad news out there, seemingly completely disconnected from source, felling totally at the whims of dark and powerful forces, it is crucial to remember the value of life and the value of our precious personal time in this cauldron.
As a practical matter of achieving this awareness, there are things that people can consider and focus on to alleviate the fear, anxiety, and concern of living in these interesting times.
5 things that people can consider and focus on in these interesting times
If things are seeming dark, unrelenting and hopeless, and all that you can see is the bad news happening in our world, take a break. Turn off the TV, the computer, stop talking about it all, and find something else entirely to occupy your attention, at least for a bit.
2. Re-connect with nature
Get outside, leave the city, take a vacation and visit some place beautiful. Mother nature, although she is under duress right now, still has plenty of beauty and joy to give, and there are many places still to get away and re-connect to the natural rhythms of the earth and the plant and animal kingdoms.
3. Re-build your routines
The mind is a creature of habit, and a persistent dark mood is as much a matter of habit as anything else. The mind can become addicted to negative thoughts and grim ideas, and what we think, we find, so when the mind is in a serious negative rut, one will attract news and sentiments that reflect and support this.
Change your habits to give yourself some space to alter your routines. Take a break from hanging out with the same people, change your homepage on your internet browser, listen to new music, get up earlier than usual.
Any way that you can shock the mind into having to adopt new patterns will help to overcome the despair and fear that our society encourages.
4. Practice inner peace
There are many tools one can quickly learn and play with in order to cultivate a sense of peace and overcome the darkness that can so easily overcome us. The best approach is to consider that each day is a new and unique opportunity to achieve peace, and as such, starting early with a practice before you do anything else has the power to affect your whole day.
Give yourself at least a few minutes each morning to re-program your mind for inner peace. Find a simple meditation practice that you can do before you start your normal day, teach yourself how to express gratitude for life before you set off to your work, learn to give thanks for whatever you can think of, no matter how insignificant seeming. Doing this before setting about the business of this world will help you to attract an entirely different energy into your life.
5. Join a new positive group of people
The power of being around positive, honest, and hard-working people is unrivaled. In my case, joining a martial arts school completely healed me of the despair associated with constantly acknowledging the hard truths of our world.
Yoga, meditation, or any other kind of interesting group of non-dramatic, positive, energetic people can help you to recalibrate your sense of well-being.
These are just a few things that came to mind when pondering the value of life, and the practice of life. Ideas have the power to change people’s lives, and these are just a few ideas I’m offering to the world with the hopes of helping someone to mitigate the pain and suffering of being in and of this insane, yet, breathtaking world.
By Dylan Charles, Waking Times;
Dylan Charles is a student and teacher of Shaolin Kung Fu, Tai Chi and Qi Gong, a practitioner of Yoga and Taoist esoteric arts, and an activist and idealist passionately engaged in the struggle for a more sustainable and just world for future generations.
He is the editor of WakingTimes.com, the proprietor of OffgridOutpost.com, a grateful father and a man who seeks to enlighten others with the power of inspiring information and action. His remarkable journey of self-transformation is a testament to the power of the will and the persistence of the human spirit.
