What’s Going On?

This is the first in a series of blogs about issues in our world today that have a direct effect on our lives and how to maintain inner stability in spite of external turmoil.

I don’t consider myself an expert and I do not particularly like the limelight.

So why would I start a blog? It arose as an overflow from the topics my patients present over and over and that I see manifesting in family and friends. I noticed that though the details of the difficulties differ, the underlying issues and their dynamics are often the same.

Most people I interact with, professionally or personally, are strongly affected by events in their personal life, the state of our nation, the state of world affairs, and the state of our natural environment.

I often hear comments like What is going on? I feel overwhelmed; I don’t know what to do and I want to help, but the problems are so enormous, I feel nothing I can do could help.

Whatever the individual response, the underlying is how to maintain balance––inner balance with oneself, outer balance with others and the world.

The problems are so widespread, entrenched, intractable, and each one vitally important, it can impel us to throw up our hands and run for cover.

As a whole, it seems unsolvable.

In any situation where I find myself thus perplexed when I feel I just don’t know what’s going on, I take a step back and look for the larger context in which the situation at hand resides.

This is an attribute of Systems Thinking, which is a subset of Systems Theory.

There is a disruption in every aspect of our lives today, no matter where we live. That being the case, it follows have to look at the larger picture.

When did I start asking the question, What is the larger bigger picture? I realized that every major world religion had some sort of prophecy about what is going on in our world today: Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, and the very underappreciated traditions of the Native

People of the world.

I’m taking a risk here since there is a great deal of nonsense, hype, falsehoods, fear, and just plain malarky out there about prophecies.

Just search any social media or video site. You’ll find a bunch of people trying to sell you something. If you want to know more, inquire within your own time-honoured tradition and ask people who are authorized to talk about the prophecies.

It is very important that your sources be reliable.

There are always false prophets waiting to serve the undiscerning. And, for those who don’t ascribe to a particular tradition, no worries… wisdom is everywhere if we are open to it.

I hope I’ve made it clear that learning about prophecies for our time is a valid inquiry and not a parlour game. It is not to be taken lightly, nor too gravely. It is important to realize the reason we have prophecies is to provide perspective and guidance during difficult times.

The reason I risk mentioning prophecies is an attempt to provide a greater context, greater meaning to the very difficult times in which we are living now.

Upon hearing the word prophecies, it is not unusual someone will assume that, because it was prophesied, the world is devoid of meaning (the nihilists) or, that there’s nothing we can do about it (the determinists). There is a middle road.

As I said above, it is my opinion that prophecies are provided as a guide––giving people a chance to modify their behaviour in preparation and, to help people navigate the stormy waters during the times prophesied. I favour taking prophecies as a guide and an aid during difficult times.

The question many people are asking, whether they are aware of it or not is What does this all mean? Why is this happening?

My response to this is, that ask the question Why is this happening? is not useful; we could

spend a lifetime asking this and never get an answer.

The more useful questions, is What can I do? or What does this mean for me?

The American Psychological Association (APA) published a study they commissioned on the levels of stress in the US at the time:

Stress in America 2017 (much of what is in that report and subsequent ones will be addressed in later blogs).

I mention it here because of just one of the reported findings. It was found that though stress levels in the US were higher than ever before, 51% of those surveyed made an effort in some way, to address the issues that were most important to them.

I believe this is the most important fact in the survey… that people became motivated toward change.

I believe our solutions in these difficult times lie in two areas: working to change the world and working to change ourselves. But, which comes first?

This is basically what this blog is about: how to change the inner attitudes of our minds in order to make the world a better place.

It is the inner change that guides and informs our actions in the world.

Topics will include addiction, mental health, belonging, the medical model, the “-isms” (race, sexuality, gender bias, etc.) true self/false self, meditation, compassion, greed, shame-based responding, narcissism, and more…providing, I hope, fresh perspectives on topics that grind

away daily in our news and personal lives.

It is not about saving the world and it is not about saving oneself. It is about mobilizing our inner resources.

To some, this may imply an approach that ignores the dire state in which we live, daily.

Some examples of building a new model: Rev Martin Luther King, II, arming himself with love for all of humanity.

The #MeToo movement and Mahatma Gandhi’s march to the ocean to make salt. Yes, things changed, but not because of an overriding domineering or destructive force.

Each of those efforts presented a new paradigm, a new community, a new view of the world, and taking a

stand for it.

Once the new view of the world begins to take hold, the deconstruction of the old paradigm begins.

It Is fitting here to emphasize Hippocrates’s famous quote: “Physician, heal thyself.”

I feel this wisdom, while clearly for physicians, it applies to everyone.

We can help others only to the extent we have healed ourselves. If you want to change things in the world but don’t know where to start, start with yourself. If you are clear on what your mission is, do it and pay close attention to your inner workings.

One caveat: the process of inner work and outer work is an ongoing relationship. As we become more involved in creating a new paradigm, greater self-awareness will be needed.

If we focused primarily on our inner work, trauma, resentments, self-doubt, shame, and feel incapacitated, that is the place to start.

As resolved those impediments, our view of ourselves and the world will change and the right action will show up at the right time.

The next blog will be about how to find your compass and your place in the profound changes taking place in our world today.