The world has turned upside-down. Does it feel that way to you? I am a pretty conservative person. I grew up in a religious home, with conservative parents, in a conservative community. I grew up being taught standards and beliefs that I eventually decided to accept as my own. I believe in God, in goodness, in fairness, equality, and the ability of people to make the most of themselves. I believe in hard work, in family, in forgiveness.
And the world today terrifies me.
The world that I see around me now is not the world I grew up in, the world I loved. When I was growing up the most important thing in the world was family. Spending time with family was everything. Nothing trumped that…well, going to church, but we went as a family. Anyways, in the world today, the focus is on the individual…on how the individual can make things better for himself/herself. That manifests in a myriad of ways. I see that attitude of “what I’m doing is more important that what you’re doing” all the time. It’s the new standard. I see it in traffic, on TV, while listening to podcasts/radio/songs, on social media, and it scares me.
Here’s why this attitude is so scary to me:
Picture a scale, the old-fashioned kind with two sides that need to balance out in order for the scale to be stable. When one side of the scale has more than the other, there is no equilibrium. Now, as people, we must spend time on ourselves, right? That’s one side of the scale: growing as a person. But when a person is so focused on their own life and making their own life great and wonderful, they neglect the other side of the scale. The other side of the scale, in my mind, is relationships. Those relationships could be with God, family, friends, pets, the community, teams, work, etc.
My point is, there needs to be balance and the world is so out of balance because there’s such a huge focus on the individual instead of focusing on a balance between taking care of self and investing effort and heart into relationships. Here are three things to do to create more balance in your life:
- Heal your heart.
- Count your blessings
- Make a plan to move forward
Heal Your Heart
How do you heal your heart? When I’m sad/angry/upset I write how I’m feeling or what I’m thinking and the burn or shred the paper. I don’t keep it because when I do this, it is with the intent to get rid of negative emotions and/or thoughts. When I get the emotions/thoughts down on paper I don’t want to keep them anymore, so I don’t. I get rid of them and I don’t share them with others because I don’t want those emotions/thoughts inside of others. After I let go of the negative stuff, I find it’s easier to talk to people about it with more calmness and peace because the roiling thoughts and emotions are no longer inside of me.
Count Your Blessings
I love doing to find balance because it’s a chance to look inside of myself and outside. I get to look inside myself because those things I’m most grateful for are in my heart and mind. I get to look outside myself because there are things to be grateful for in nature, in my community, in all parts of the world, I just have to look to see it.
Make a Plan to Move Forward
I know that I started this post out with a gloomy tone and I’ve switched to a peppy one, but that’s because my plan to move forward is to focus on the good. I can see the negative, I can notice the effect it has on me and my loved ones, but I don’t have to let it continue to be scary and gloomy. Focusing on the good in my life, focusing on the change I can bring about in the world, that’s my plan moving forward.
What’s yours?
-Adrianne
