Do you also struggle to be present in your own life without completely blocking out all the craziness and heartbreak and seeming hopelessness that permeates the world at the moment? Or do you find yourself mentally and emotionally overloaded with the constant barrage of messages, information, images, videos and opinions? Here are some thoughts about how I deal with these struggles.
The Tension
We live ordinary days on our little piece of the planet. Collecting autumn leaves,making advent calendars, shoveling the first snow, cleaning, doing the grocery shopping, soothing a crying baby, making meals, making art and navigating the pretty ordinary challenges that we face at the moment. Some days this is difficult for me, to hold the tension. To know that the war between Russia and the Ukraine has been going for six hundred and sixteen days. To wonder how the progress of AI will influence our future. To know that the violence in the Gaza strip keeps escalating. To read the political pamphlet in my postbox speaking against the flood of refugees into Europe and implying that Switzerland should be for the Swiss. To talk to my neighbor who fled the Ukraine with her son at the beginning of the war and mostly ask about work, because how do I ask her how she is really doing. To know many people in my home country are struggling financially in an economical and political situation that is not looking positive. The list can go on, you know it too. Big things, small things. Nuanced things, simple things. Things far away, things very close. I often wonder if all this information makes us more or less compassionate and able to actually help. Where do you see the tension in your mind and emotions? Are you aware of what adds to it?
The Decision
Deciding what I allow in and when I allow it in has made a huge difference in my level of mental energy which influences my ability to be present and my ability to make decisions and extend compassion. How this looks for you is so dependent on many things> your capacity, your job, your phase of life, your priorities. It is a personal journey but a very necessary one. What do you want to take up mental and emotional space in your life? What does the exposure and processing of this information lead to? Are you drained by it in a negative way or are you moved to take some sort of action, even if that action is prayer or forming a more compassionate opinion. Does it make you less or more able to be present in your life and in your community? How this looks for me at the moment: I have subscriptions to one American and one German Newsletter, I get emails to keep up with international news. I do not do further google or YouTube Spirals about the news. I try to avoid YouTube spirals in general, which, like with most of these ideals I sometimes don't succeed at. I don't have Facebook or X or Instagram at the moment. I haven't for a while and that works for me, in this season. I don't have much mental space and I realized I could not be on Instagram without wasting time or comparing or getting drained. I mute peoples stories on WhatsApp if they keep posting content that starts to get into my head or triggers a big negative emotional response in me that I cannot learn from. I am subscribed to a few people's blogs, people whose thoughts and insights I am challenged by or am enriched by in a way that leads to growth. I have two favorite podcasts that I listen to if I have the time. I have recently joined Substack (as an observer, not a contributor) and so far I am really enjoying it. I make time to read books about the things I am interested in (usually more informative than a google spiral). I listen to real people, in my life and community. People I agree with, people I disagree with. People whose experiences and choices I can easily understand and those who I really have difficulty understanding but am trying to anyway. My day is full of input, a lot of which I can't control. So is yours. Make a list of what you choose to let in and spend some time thinking about it. Would you add, remove or change anything about how and when you receive input?
The Action
What can I do then? I can start as close to me as possible. Myself. My own mind and heart and issues. I slowly work on them. I can practice gratitude. I can be present. I can love my family with the love of thousands of decisions of what to do with my time and presence. I can be a good friend, a good neighbor. I can listen, I can share. I can ask for help, I can offer help.With the small simple things and the bigger things if I have the capacity and resources.I can be honest, have consistent boundaries. I can hold space when things get heavy in the lives of those I love. I can comfort those in my life who need comfort in a way that I can provide it. I can celebrate with those who are celebrating.I can choose to be compassionate, be understanding, give people the benefit of the doubt, to forgive, to keep trying.I can pray. I am a firm believer in the power of prayer to change things.I can be full of hope, because I know Hope. This is what life is made of, these choices. So simple, yet so difficult sometimes. And, yes, please do other things if you can too. Give money to trustworthy charities whose causes are close to your heart. Help and serve in the places where help and service is needed. Keep an ear and eye open for needs that you can meet, listen to the Holy Spirit move you. If you can go bigger, dream bigger, give bigger- do it! If you have an urgency in your heart for a cause and a plan to make big things happen, be courageous! If you plan your day so that you can make an extra meal and drop it off at that friend, thank you! If you are the one who needs the meal and can't see yourself helping anyone right now, your honesty empowers others toward honesty and opens doors for others to be vulnerable and to show their love for you. The action is this, to love as best you can right now. To do it consciously, to do it powerfully, to do it humbly. What actions are possible for you today? What would you start with?
The following poem is written by Ted Loder in his book of prayers, Guerrillas of Grace. A book which is one of my favorite reads this year. It was published forty years ago and still rings so true, which comforts me in a way. It is like a sigh and a hug, an empowering hug. I will end with the poem and click publish with a prayer that you will be filled with hope this December, however this post finds you. xx
I Need to Breathe Deeply
Eternal friend
grant me an ease
to breathe deeply of this moment,
this light
this miracle of now.
Beneath the din and fury
of great movements
and harsh news
and urgent crises,
make me attentive still
to good news,
to small occasions,
and the grace of what is possible
for me to be,
to do,
to give,
to receive,
that I may miss neither my neighbor's gift
nor my enemy's need.
Amen.