Fear or Faith -- Your Choice - 10/12/2008
Wow! What can I possibly say to all of my friends, clients and acquaintances who have called or emailed me this week with regard to the financial crisis now occurring in America and indeed around the world?
Heaven knows I spent a large part of my time last week attempting to put out some emotional fires that were raging out of control, causing all logic and reason to fly out the window. And, I understand! Fear is, of course, the granddaddy of all negative emotions and it can literally take over and dominate a person’s mental, physical and even spiritual being.
So, while I was able to calm some people down, I failed miserably with others, who were so out of control that nothing I said helped. In fact, in some cases it put fuel on the fire causing them to tell me in the most vocal way possible that I don’t understand their plight and that I am not concerned about their future. They even told me with certainty that because I have some money saved I am not affected as much as they are. Nothing could be further from the truth – I feel it too. You would have to be dead not to, but I DO understand, I Do care and we are all negatively affected.
Worse yet, some so-called religious people even question how God could allow this to happen. As I said, out of control!
Prey tell, how in the world do I help someone “get a grip” if I agree with their fears and if I sit around the campfire wrapping them in a blanket of sympathy and compassion, but not offering any alternatives?
However, while I am not happy, and before that unhappiness becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy (much like what happened to make the stock market plunge even worse than it should have), I actually decided that fear would not help me get my money back and that stress related disease such as anger, blame, hostility, the inability to sleep, stomach pain, headaches, nausea and worse, will not only not help, they will make things worse.
Therefore, I have decided, and I invite you to join me, to change my mind, to select faith in the universe and in the future over deadly emotional fear and to take a position that this insanity will in time turn around and things will eventually look better.
For some, that is not enough I am quite sure – it even sounds too Pollyanna, and ludicrous and it sounds like I have completely lost my mind. After all, losing your home or your job or your retirement savings and not collapsing is a monumental task, and quite frankly, talking about faith seems so airy-fairy, so weak and so inconsequential.
What are the alternatives? To work yourself into a state of paralysis, spend your days crying or to begin the arduous task of deciding upon some positive action steps you can take?
One thing is for sure - that being glued to the TV and watching the news 24/7 will not help! Besides being depressing, the news pundits have to fill the hours and hours of airtime and while they say they are just reporting the story that is not true. They are slowly but surely out to get a piece of your mind and to get you hooked, and I say don’t let them!
Do some affirmations, meditate daily to slow and calm your mind, write some new goals and new action steps, only hang out with positive people who are encouraging and supportive, picture yourself in happier times, drink plenty of water, eat only healthy foods, talk long walks or exercise daily. Do whatever it takes to change your fear to faith.
This is NOT the end – it is the beginning of a new consciousness, of a new way of looking at things, of a kind of faith that says that the stars shine brightest when the night is blackest, the kites fly against the wind, that in every adversity is an invisible seed of something great and that the sun will rise again.
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