Dear Community, Clients, Colleagues and Friends,
During this very trying time, I find comfort in my belief that we are not powerless . We have more control over our emotional well-being than we sometimes think. Often, it is not so much what is happening, but how we interpret and respond to what is happening that determines how an event affects us emotionally. While I probably spend a little too much time on getting “the facts”, I do take seriously the need to leave room for positive thoughts and feelings. Actually, I work on creating them.
Please be good to yourself. Eat well, get enough sleep, connect as much as you can to those that you care about. Stay informed, but limit media and communication with those who leave you feeling overwhelmed and overly anxious. Activate your resiliency by pulling out of your toolbox your favorites; music, memories, pictures and anything else that puts a smile on your face. John Coltrane’s “My favorite things” never sounded as good to me as it does these days. We can control negative thoughts and leave more room for positive thoughts and feelings. In fact, we can create the peace that we need. The need to lash out at others that some experience is not surprising given the stress that we all are dealing with. Try hard to not do that. Instead, respond, if possible, with a loving gesture.
We were blessed with naturally occurring brain chemicals that allow us to experience calm, happiness and even joy when we hear, see, smell, do or taste the right things. Most of us were blessed with the capacity to love. Love is the most powerful healing and life sustaining force that I know, when we let it be what it can be.
