The world feels heavy these days, doesn’t it?
Bad things seem to be happening so often that we don’t have time to mourn one tragedy before we’re slapped with the next. And immediately, we see a lot of social media posts that go something like this:
“I can’t believe it!”
“This has to stop!”
“The world is so scary!”
“What’s wrong with people?”
And I have to say: I really don’t like these posts.
We’re all frustrated. We’re all sad. A lot of us are angry. And we don’t know what to do, so we take our rage to social media as if that makes things better.
Look, I don’t know what to do, either. But I do know that if I get angry and frustrated, not only does it do nothing to fix the problem, it makes my day even worse than it was when I heard the bad news to begin with.
All this frustration and rage only adds to the collective frustration and rage. As a society, it makes us less trusting, less loving, and more likely to bond over hate than over solutions. It makes things worse.
Another common social media response to tragic events like the ones we’ve been dealing with is this particular quote by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
And that’s great, because it’s the truth. It’s the truth.
But we have to live it.
Are you seeking to understand, or are you rolling your eyes at the woman who’s holding up the checkout line because she can’t find her debit card? Are you forgiving, or are you swearing at the man who cut you off in traffic? Are you loving, or are you damning the killer and perhaps his entire race or religion?
Every day, we are given opportunities to connect with other people.
We can take those opportunities to breathe deeply, to understand, to forgive, and to love…or we can create division. We get to choose. And the wrong choice is made far too often.
Sometimes I make that wrong choice, too. I’m far from perfect in this regard, but I’m trying. I’m working, every day, on becoming more understanding, more forgiving, more loving. I try to have compassion for that woman whose debit card may have been stolen (or “misplaced” by her child, as happened recently to a friend of mine), I ask if maybe the man who cut me off was battling a wasp in the car, and I feel deeply sorry for the killers.
I do. What happened to them? Where did they lose their way? Why weren’t they given enough love to help them realize that what they’re doing is wildly imbalanced, wildly damaging? They were people, before they turned monster. What if we could have reached them then?
I hope you know me well enough to know I disagree with their actions, of course, and that I feel a far greater ache for the victims and their families. But I do isolate the person and his choices, separate from his race or religion, and I know that there is a pain and lack of understanding inside of him that is so great, he doesn’t know what else to do.
What if I can reach someone who then makes better choices because they feel loved and connected to the world around them? What does that look like for me?
Most of the time, it’s simple kindness. It’s smiling. It’s giving the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes, there are people who make it harder than that, in which case I get an opportunity to work on myself.
You know where this is going, right?
Yoga helps.
So often, we focus on yoga’s physical benefits, but it does so much more. It makes us more aware. It teaches us to search for spaces we can use to choose a response rather than react to a situation. It reminds us to love and appreciate what we have. It shows us there is room for all of us on this planet, as long as we allow each other to be what we are and seek what we need without, of course, hurting anyone else in the process. It calms us down. It reminds us to breathe.
Can yoga save the world? Maybe not. But what if it could? Would you roll out your mat?
All I know is what I can do, and that’s to practice more and love more. It’ll be enough when we all decide it is. Until then, you’ll find me on my yoga mat, and I hope to see you there.
