It’s been a week since the senselessness that happened in El Paso and Dayton. As with any act of violence, it’s stirred emotions not just in those two cities, but across our nation and around the world. How can you deal with what you’re feeling and not get stuck in it?
Feel and Express It
Angry. Fearful. Sad. Fed-up. Whatever you’re feeling, don’t run away from those feelings. Don’t try to ignore them or bury them. Allow yourself to feel and express them. Write about them, talk about them, give them a physical outlet. Find a way that gets them out, helps you feel better and won’t hurt you or others.
Don’t get caught up in old ideas that those kinds of emotions aren’t good or that you shouldn’t feel them. How you feel is how you feel, you can’t deny that. What happened last weekend is shocking. We saw people hurting others. What you’re feeling is natural, holding it in isn’t.
Expressing how you feel allows those emotions to flow through and out of you. There are no rules about how long it will take. Maybe it’s minutes, maybe it’s days or longer. The point is to feel them so you don’t end up holding on to them long-term, where they start affecting you negatively.
Holding on to those emotions for a long time also gets in the way of you shining your light. If we want to make our world a better place, we need people shining their light! We need them coming from a place of love, from their hearts, not from fear or anger or hate.
The passion to make a change may be born from anger or sadness about acts like last weekend. It may be the kick in the butt needed to jump into action. But you need to eventually move back into a place of love. It will not only sustain you longer, you will be creating change that comes from your higher self, from the Divine.
Empowerment
With any act of violence, it’s easy to suddenly feel small in the world and wonder what you could possibly do to make it a little better. There is something you can do. Shine your light in whatever you do, wherever you go! It may be something on a grand scale, but you shine your light in the “little” everyday things too. Making connections with people adds light to the world. A smile, saying hi, asking how someone is or how their day is going if time permits. Don’t underestimate even the briefest of interactions. They may appear small, but their impact can run deep!
You also contribute to the world by nurturing that light within you. Love and accept yourself unconditionally, take care of yourself and heal and release the past. As you feel amazing on the inside, your light radiates out in everything you do. People around you see and feel it too. It can affect them in amazing ways, including inspiring them or reminding them of their own light that they’ve been neglecting in some way.
As more people understand self-love and heal pain within them, we’ll see a positive difference in the world. There are many people who are hurting in some way. We just saw two who turned around and hurt others. It’s not an excuse for or condoning their actions. But we can see that they are not acknowledging the light within themselves. They are focused on whatever pain or hurt they are feeling on some level – emotional, mental, physical or spiritual. They hurt others because they themselves are hurting. When you love yourself, you won’t hurt yourself. That radiates out from you and you also won’t hurt others. That is the power and impact of self-love!
Don’t let acts of violence leave you feeling powerless or scared. Don’t let them stop you from going out. Don’t let them diminish your view of the world. You give away some of your power if you do that. You know you have love in your heart. You feel it. That very love makes you very powerful. Use it to make the world a better place. It starts from within. From there the possibilities are limitless!
