How to Help the World

This week I was talking to a beloved teacher and mentor and I asked her how I could work to counteract the cloud of worry and concern that is hanging over me right now. I don’t know about you but I have been really feeling the suffering in the world as of late. World events, war, politics, deep divisions between people — it’s so heavy and seems almost unavoidable.

What to do?

It seems almost hopeless at times.

And as November starts, I’m aware that it’s almost time for the holiday season to begin. I usually feel a thrill of joy at the approaching occasions, but this year what I’m experiencing is also tied up with these pressing concerns.

How do I reconcile all of it?

Is it even possible?

She suggested a couple of tools that I wanted to share with you because when I tried them, it actually helped. Maybe it can help you too.

The first was a practice of what I will call Active Loving Kindness. It’s based on a meditation where you focus your own energy and intentions on reflecting and sending the light of love in your own heart out into the world. I was really taken with it. It turns out that this is a cornerstone of Buddhist practice. Thanks to the miracle of the Internet, you can watch teachers Thích Nhất Hạnh and Pema Chödrön demonstrating and guiding this type of meditation.

So beautiful.

What I appreciate is that this is an active practice, not passive.

It starts with deciding.

We decide to share love and kindness with the world in an intentional way. It’s like choosing love instead of hate, compassion instead of anger. We really do get to choose our response to the world. In the flood of news, tears, and heartbreak I had momentarily forgotten that. We can only control ourselves and our responses. (You’d think I’d know that by now).

I would imagine that if all of us practiced this type of intentional sharing of love in our own way and in our own time, we could start a wave of loving kindness that could wash over our families, our neighborhoods, our communities and maybe even the world. I’m all for trying if you are?

There was one other suggestion she made and I loved this one too — she suggested thinking of our hearts like a recycling center. We close our eyes and breathe in deeply all of the concerns and worries of what is on our mind and in the world. Gathering together the suffering around me that I’ve been sensing and then bringing it all in to one point. Then, seeing the recycling center in your heart turn that negativity into a bright, white light. With a slow out-breath, send that white light of love back out into the hearts of others. You can be specific and send it to one person or a place or a group, or you can be more general and just send it back out to circle the globe.

I did this last exercise a few times and the relief I experienced was almost palpable. I don’t know about you but the worry gets like a clog in my drain and keeps everything from flowing. Liquid Drano for our stuck emotions? Maybe.

Can these acts of active loving kindness actually change anything? I believe the answer is an unequivocal yes, particularly if we are vigilant and incorporate practices like these into our daily routines. It’s another form of prayer, another form of mindfulness. This is a way that we can create a sanctuary of our minds and hearts.

Sending you that beautiful, white light from my heart to yours,

Lisa