Sitting in front of the computer, unwinding from a fantastic night of dancing which was the culmination of an amazing week, I find my mind going in too many directions to even corral. As I scroll through my emails and Facebook, seeing so many people up in arms about this issue or that, I wonder if the fact that I’m not especially outraged over anything is an indication that I’m apathetic or have my head in the sand.
It’s not that I don’t care about children going hungry or politicians trying to stifle women via any means they can find. It’s that I don’t feel that putting my energy into being angry or outraged is going to help the situation improve. I’m aware that organizations use this emotional response to wring money out of people to further their cause. I’m sure that, in their own way, as righteously indignant as they project themselves, they believe that the ire they stir up will get them what they need, and as such, is a means to an end.
I’m sorry if I find your techniques offensive and relegate your posts and emails either to the trash or to my copywriting folders so I have examples on both how to and how not to make friends and influence people. Of course, you’ll never know that this is what I do. You’ll merely fail to find a contribution in your account with my name on it. I understand that you will continue to promote your beliefs in this way as, it seems, your methods are effective enough to be funding your efforts to write more letters and create more posts.
I’m grateful for the examples you set as I learn from them despite the fact that I don’t have access to information which gives me your rate of return on the investment you make in these efforts. The mere repetitiveness of your messages is enough to convince me that your methods fund your madness.
But in the end, is all of this ire really helping your cause or that of the people you oppose?
Emotions are energy
Emotions are energy, and energy causes action. But how can we be certain that the energy we expend through our emotions generates the action we desire?
As I see it, if we are angry about a situation, say, women’s rights regarding their reproductive organs, and we express a great deal of anger towards those who seek to limit those rights, where are we directing our energy? Is it to protecting our rights, or is it towards those who seek to take those rights away? It’s clear to me that our anger is fueling the guy who wants to take away my rights and fueling his efforts which is exactly the opposite of what I want to do!
This is why I am not outraged. This is why I might seem complacent. This is why I don’t follow all of the speculation over the guy who murdered a bunch of people and express my horror and outrage over his behavior.
Instead, I direct my energies towards compassion for the families of the victims, and even the guy who committed the crime. My anger would fuel his behavior; my compassion lets the air out of his balloon. That isn’t to say that I think he doesn’t deserve due process and punishment for his crimes. It simply means that I am not going to wind myself up emotionally to be his armchair judge and jury.
So where, you might ask, do I allow my emotions to run amok? Where do I send my emotional energies that they might fuel a cause or two?
I look at pictures of animals who are being cared for by people who want to give them good homes. I don’t focus on the diseases and the atrocities which might have been committed before the animals found those who would care for them and give them the chance for a good, caring home. I focus on those who care, who devote their time and effort towards saving the animals and matching them with their forever homes. I love, appreciate and support those who, often under terrible odds, continue to save animals, one at a time, doing whatever it takes before finding someone who will give that animal the life he or she deserves until their time comes to cross the rainbow bridge.
We all get angry now and then. It’s part of the human condition.
Sure, I do get angry now and again, until I think about who I’m helping by being angry. That, alone, is enough to stop me in my tracks and find a way to redirect my energy towards the outcome I want rather than the one I don’t. I’ve certainly not achieved perfection, but practice makes perfect!
Practice fueling the outcome you desire instead of the one you don’t.
To put it simply, I’m sending my support, whether it be physical, emotional or financial, towards my desired outcomes. This means that I don’t fight things as that opens the door for them to suck your energy away. Instead, I love, I admire, I appreciate those people and things which are integrated into the outcome I desire.
Learning to fuel your desired outcome doesn’t come easily, but the lesson is invaluable.
I didn’t learn to do this over night, and there was a lot of trial and error. But the benefits have been far beyond anything I would have expected. I’m rarely angry any more which is a beautiful thing. I face each day with a smile because I’m thinking of the wonderful things I want for my family, my friends and the world. Best of all, I see small indications that my energy has reached the right place.
“Not my monkeys, not my circus.”
I’ve been seeing this quote a lot lately, and the more I think about it, the more I realize that it’s how I’ve begun living my life. I’m not being sucked into other peoples’ fights or anger. Instead, I can say with a smile: “Thank you for clearly lighting the path I wish to avoid.”
We all choose our battles and our causes. I’ve just learned that to help our causes, we don’t need to take up arms. We simply need to love what is important to us.
My gratitudes tonight are:
1. I am grateful for the lessons which have taught me to redirect my energies.
2. I am grateful for my wonderful, busy, joy filled week.
3. I am grateful for the people around me who both teach me compassion and kindness and reinforce the lessons every day.
4. I am grateful for some quiet time after a week of intense activity. Once again, I am surrounded by the love of my animals while the rest of the world is outside, doing whatever it needs to.
5. I am grateful for the series of illnesses which kept me down and quiet in June as they gave me time to build up my energy for the months ahead, and, for now, the busy month of July which has me recommitting to myself.
Love and light.
