Healing Conflict From Within
“The world is not in need of a new philosophy, or a new set of beliefs, or a new religion-the world needs regeneration and healing.” Joel Goldsmith
The news continues to inundate us with the conflicts that appear to be everywhere. Although its tempting to focus on the political scene as center stage – or the protection instructions about traveling and gathering- today I am going to offer a different perspective. It may seem radical or too far left (please I do live in California) but I think its worth considering and in doing so, we gain power.
Much of what we see is mirrored in our awareness and consciousness. We have internal conflicts about what to do, where to go, who to see and how to handle the stresses of change, isolation and fear. It definitely looks like those things are coming at us, fast and furiously, from the world in which we live. I have noticed that some conflicts don’t even get traction in my thinking, and upon close examination, I notice they are not held in my thinking/awareness. Example: I recently heard of an organization called 4Ocean. The name invited me to check them out – and I found that they are consistently removing plastic and other harmful items from our oceans. As I reviewed the stats on how daunting this is – I felt a warm sense of caring and inspiration that young people were devoting themselves to this effort. Now, for those of you who know me well – you know I journey to the Sea Ranch in Northern California as often as I can – and no one is more moved by the site of the Pacific in all its glory than I am..I love the ocean -its grandeur and power makes my heart swell with joy. I happily ordered a few items from their website for holiday gifting and bookmarked them for future reference. I didn’t feel anger toward how this situation occurred or hopeless about the environmental implications – I simply followed my clear reason and intuitive knowingness – conflict free.
When I get emails on political upheavals – this is NOT what happens – I notice I get triggered and begin an internal or external rant. As I contemplated this week’s blog, I decided to look deeper into why that might be happening. I did this from a place of open curiosity as opposed to any judgement or blame and sure enough I could find an internal conflict about who is right and who is wrong – and I found some fear that if things don’t change….yadayadayada (as Jerry Seinfeld said years ago).
I continued to do this over a few issues or areas of my experience and found the same dynamic at play. It occurred to me like a flash of lighting…as the inside, so the outside. I am sure some famous spiritual guide quoted that phrase…though I can’t call up a name. So rather than be pushed around by my own thinking, I decided to heal the conflict from the inside out. This is not a denial of the facts or a suppression of the importance of some issues – it is however an intentional shift to healing my inner conflicts so that I can contribute where I feel called, from a sense of peace and appreciation.
There are many practices to do this -it doesn’t really matter which one you choose. Here is one that I use often..
Notice the feeling of stress or frustration (put in any word that fits)
Allow it to be there – don’t try to shove it or spew it
Ask yourself this simple question – Am I these thoughts or feelings OR am I that which is aware?
When I notice that I have moved away from identifying with this conflict to the witness of awareness of life unfolding, I let go of the feelings and the thoughts follow them.
Can I let them go ? Of course I let go of stuff all day …Will I let them go (well will I ?) Why wouldn’t I – they are not me..I am just aware of experiencing them.
Peace comes like the natural movement of the tides…I haven’t done much but move myself out of the way. I can’t help but think in my oh so California way, that healing from within, and following reason and intuition, would bring us to a new level of collaboration and regeneration.
Worth a try, don’t ya think?
