Day 4 - First Things First

Imagine yourself at a gathering. You are sitting on a couch a safe distance away from others at the event. Meanwhile, even at distance things are beginning to become tense. Politics, or Covid, or any of a number of extremely tense issues come up. You and the person you are talking to are becoming angry. Just this moment a fire breaks out of the couch you are sitting on. I would suggest at this point that regardless of the topic putting out the fire is now the priority, 

I use this analogy because it feels very apropos to the time. I would suggest that having one part of our awareness in contact with our emotions and thought process are the first order of concern. If we become inflamed, enraged and aggressive we will not be in contact with our full ability to make choices accurate to the situation. 

The same is true of what we generally choose to talk about or focus on. It is clearly a time to be active, set limits and be committed to using our influence to support a more respectful environment.. If we consistently have conversations that really have no purpose other than highlighting how hopeless things are, perhaps we should ask ourselves what the intent of the conversation is. Is it empowering or supportive? Are we really working to make things better? 

Being in the world but not of the world is being fully vested but at the same time realizing that we are not our emotions. In fact one of the most important duties in being a citizen of the world is not to spread more toxicity. We can work for justice and mutual respect, but must be careful to not add the accelerant of another enraged human. We have enough people on that job. You are exactly the right person to make a positive difference. Just make sure you put out the fire in your own heart first.