Time Like These

“Times like these,
And times like those
What will be will be
And so it goes…”
-Jack Johnson

The first few lines of the Jack Johnson song ‘Times Like These’ always reminds me to let go and get still so I can surrender to the way things are and find clarity. Usually, getting quiet inside helps me approach the present reality with a fresh creativity and ingenuity that otherwise would go unnoticed. Right now, many people are walking around in fear at the lack of stability in the current economy. The broken trust in our country’s financial leadership is frustrating and angering. These feelings come with good reason but often have no outlet in our busy, frenetic, work oriented lives. And it is these ignored emotional cues that often try to get our attention by manifesting as chronic pain and other assorted chronic health problems.

In the present economic climate this inner calmness is hard to come by. Right now we need to take a few moments, get quiet, reflect and spend time with ourselves without the burden of worry. Yet how do we find the privacy to stop and rest when there are so many conflicting demands on our time and space?

I am tired of being afraid of this sense of impending doom that comes to us by way of the media and the nervous emotional states of those around us. This underlying sense of fear and anxiety is crazy-making and causes one to act out of a tremulous, survival-threatened center. It feels impossible to make confident, sure and informed decisions in this state.

How do we get quiet, reflect and make decisions out of truthful reality when denial or total freakout seems to be an easier path? I want to have the character to behave well when things are difficult, to transcend the uncomfortable present circumstances and touch other's lives with gentleness and grace. I want to choose kindness and support over bitterness and fear. I want to act consciously in the present, experiencing all that it has to offer. I hope you do too...

Sitting by the river in springtime,
Gurgling sound of glacial water,
A breath from Heaven
Soothes the thousand little fires within
-Author Unknown