I opened my eyes around 5:00 am. It’s cold in my un-insulated beach cottage, but I’m cozy under my four heavy blankets. I hear the rain coming down outside, an unusual occurrence in Southern California. It’s the perfect morning to stay in bed, but I feel compelled to get up and write.
Today is election day, a full moon eclipse, and this year’s final Uranus-Saturn square – it has all the makings of a perfect storm. This is the perfect day to remember that no matter what chaos may go on outside of us, we always have the choice of whether to partake or not.
For example, a couple of days ago, I made what I thought was a benign comment on the post of a travel writer that I follow. Unintentionally, my comment completely triggered a woman and she responded with anger. I responded with objectivity and kindness and wished her well. She responded, “I cannot wait for you to die.”
Wow. It would have been completely natural for me to be triggered by the audacity of her comment and hurl insults back at her, engaging in an energetic war of the words.
But, instead, my heart went out to her. I decided not to respond at all because nothing I said would diffuse the emotions that were boiling up in her; they had nothing to do with me. I chose, instead, to just send her peace and love, because clearly, she had been through some difficult times and was carrying pent-up anger without a proper outlet.
We all trigger from time to time and it’s okay. The key is to then notice the trigger and investigate it instead of engaging. In this example, my comment triggered an old wound within the woman that needs to be investigated, released, and healed. After the wound has healed, it won’t trigger her anymore, allowing her to relate to others out of understanding, peace, and love rather than defensiveness, anger, and judgment (and death wishes).
We can also be triggered (heavily) by politics and the news, especially on election day. The system is set up to manipulate and trigger the most wounded parts of us because it’s what gets us the most heated and divided (which is exactly what they want). We can use these triggers to do a deeper investigation into ourselves and discover another opportunity to heal. We can also choose to not engage.
When I was in college, I studied international relations and was fascinated by politics. I considered going to law school to study human rights law. When my ex-husband was fighting in Afghanistan, I kept the TV on 24/7 in order to “stay in the know.”
I don’t buy into the argument that I have to watch the news in order to “stay in the know” anymore. I haven’t watched the news for many years because I noticed how it would make me feel. It brought up anger, frustration, anxiety, and fear, and I thought, “why am I doing this to myself? What would happen if I just stopped watching?”
So, I decided to experiment to see what it would be like if I stopped watching the news. I didn’t feel I was missing out on anything but negativity. If there was something vitally important for me to know, a friend would tell me or something would come across my social media feed. The only thing that was missing from my life now was the anger, frustration, anxiety, and fear that was fed to me through the news stories, and I was happy to miss it. That frees up so much more time to focus on the world that I’d like to see and contribute to through my thoughts and actions.
This morning, I read the daily affirmation that I received from Moon Omens (I highly suggest you sign up because they’re amazing). It says,
“I am free and unlimited in my ability to live my personal legend and create my story as magical as it gets. I trust my uniqueness and my brilliance.”
Yesssssssss!
What feels better? Take a minute to consider this. After spending two hours watching the news and getting all riled up over the people who don’t think like you or all of the things they say you should be afraid of, how do you feel? Do those emotions spill over to your family, friends, or people at the grocery store? They might. Now consider how you would feel if you focused on thoughts and ideas such as the affirmation above. Think about those emotions spilling over to the people around you.
This is the epitome of the Gandhi phrase, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” If you’d love for people to be more kind, compassionate, and understanding, instead of pointing your finger at others, ensure you’re embodying those feelings in your own life. We are all connected energetically and your thoughts, beliefs, and feelings matter. If something doesn’t feel good, you can choose to stop doing it. Find something that feels good and do more of that. Spread all of those good feelings to everyone you meet.
Today is a day to go within. Ponder the world that you would really like to live in and know that you are empowered to contribute to that ideal world every day through your thoughts, beliefs, and actions, not by forcing anyone outside of you to be different, but by you choosing to be different. Everything you do throughout your day is important and more powerful than you know. Together, through love, peace, understanding, and compassion, we can make a difference in this world.
Love and soul,
Lara