The news is full of gloom and doom, Facebook news feeds are loaded with scandal, hypocrisy, angst, and general discontent. The majority of mass media could (and in many cases, does) have us convinced the world is in a state of irrevocable disaster. Based on the information out there, it might appear a hopeless mess.
What are we to do?
Well, first of all, let me assert that by no means am I about to say everything is fine and we should be looking at the world through rose colored glasses. There are clearly issues that need to be addressed directly. That said, I think sometimes we get so wrapped up in what's wrong we forget what's right. We focus on the ugly parts of humanity and the world and forget there's beauty there too, and not just a little, a whole lot of it.
If all we focus on is what's wrong, what is there to motivate us to change any of it? What's left to work for? To fight for? When everything looks wrong, what else is there to do but throw our hands up and say "What's the point?" Perhaps it's not a matter of finding everything that's wrong and fixing it, but remembering to find what's good and doing our best to preserve it- to cultivate an environment in which it can grow and flourish. From that perspective, it's less daunting and ugly because it's about creating versus destroying.
This can be applied to anything from wanting to lose weight (think: instead of focusing on how much you have to lose and how much work it will be, focus on how much energy you're creating, how much stronger you're becoming, how empowering it is to have that control to be able to lead a healthier life) to the environment (instead of focusing on eradicating the pollution and degradation of the planet, focus on what's beautiful and work to protect it).
Again, I'm not saying be naive and blind. I am saying we need to stop hyper focusing on the negative and take a moment to remember why we want change in the first place. We want change because the hearts of us see beauty even when our eyes don't.
No comments:
Post a Comment