Responding to Crisis
From Living Consciously blog by Dr Carol Carnes
It is very hard to imagine what people are dealing with in the aftermath of that devastating tsunami. Entire towns have been wiped off the map and that includes homes and gardens, offices, schools, temples, parks and private businesses. The shock and grief must be overwhelming, especially when coupled with the loss of family members and friends. It is somewhat gratifying to see the immediate response of so many nations with aid and supplies. However, over time, there will have to be an acceptance that nothing will be the same. Nothing, that is, but the inner life of each person. They will keep their imagination, their capacity for love and joy, their creative mind.
Those people whose lives are turned upside down right now will find ways to rebuild. They will make decisions, choose actions, engage in work, make new friends along the way, and perhaps learn some new skills. No matter how terrible things are, the people involved are greater than the circumstance. They can think their way into a new life. Of course they will need help, and they will need each other. If there is one positive out of this kind of disaster, it is how much more connected we are as human beings. We are more aware of our brothers and sisters around the world and the conditions they endure.
Information and awareness can lead to compassion and compassion leads to action. Sympathy merely makes us feel bad but compassion acknowledges the pain while at the same time knows there is an answer and sees through the appearance to the power within. Compassion is there to lift up while everything seems to be falling down. When we send money or supplies to a blighted area or build a school in a poverty stricken village, it is not because we think all is lost, it is because we know this is a beginning. At the level of possibility, all is well, all the time.
Peace is ours now, Dr. Carol Carnes
- 11 months ago
- • 0 comments (Add)
- • Share
