Waking up to news of another mass shooting in California right on the heels of the last one at a synagogue in Pennsylvania felt heavy. Especially after all of the divisiveness of the midterm elections, the attorney general stepping down, the craziness of the press conference, the ongoing immigrant situation and so, so much more. That’s just here in the U.S. Our world is full of fear-based suffering rooted in power struggles, scarcity mindsets, oppression and disconnection. All of these things leave us wondering, “what’s wrong with the world?”
And then on a personal level, there are so many walking wounded. Those of us who are walking around with broken hearts and battered spirits…holding tight to shame, judgement, anger, resentment and all the things that make us wonder, “what’s wrong with me?”
I don’t have answers or solutions for you today but I want to offer up some resources. If you find yourself struggling to understand the suffering in the world or the suffering within yourself, I hope some of the things that I bring to you can help you start to make steps towards peace, healing and open heartedness.
Remember, we are all in this together.
A PRAYER
BOOKS
When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chodron
Falling Into Grace: Insights into the End of Suffering by Adyashanti
Judgement Detox: Release the Beliefs that Hold You Back from Living a Better Life by Gabrielle Bernstein
Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
Tears to Triumph: Spiritual Healing for the Modern Plagues of Anxiety and Depression by Marianne Williamson
The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brene Brown
OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER
- Meditation – you can sit quietly, do writing meditations or use an app with guided meditations
- Devotionals and prayer – I have found this devotional to be especially helpful, Streams in the Desert
- Walking and spending time in nature
- Gratitude and reflection
- Acts of service
- A yoga practice
- Grounding practices, here are some ideas
Sending love,
Jen
Thank you for this.
Thank you for this. A lot of bloggers tend to put the obligatory “sending thoughts to those affected…” at the beginning of their posts and then just move on. While I do read blogs/social media primarily for the fun stuff including health, fitness, food tips, and stories, I really appreciate you dedicating an entire post to tragedy and for those suffering though any sort of hardship. Your posts are so thoughtful. While I have been unfollowing a lot of bloggers and influencers due to their posts seeming disingenuous or stale, I will continue to follow you as I look forward to each and every one of your posts. Sending lots of positive thoughts you way. Thank you.
Thank you for dedicating a post to this news. Upon looking into details online, I stumbled upon the news of a shooting in a hot yoga studio in Tallahassee just last Friday…plus one other shooting, which makes 4 in the span of 3 weeks! It’s just heartbreaking. Let these terrible tragedies remind us to reach out to others, to offer resources, to make connections, to convince those who need help to seek help. We are all in this together…
Thank you so much for this <3
I’m just catching up with my blog reading, and wanted to thank you for this post. I know it is difficult to find a way to talk about current events on a fitness/food blog, but you did so beautifully. The current social/political climate is so toxic and the negativity certainly has impacted my anxious tendencies. You did a beautiful job of addressing the recent horrors and offering resources. Now, more than ever, is the time to be there for one another and offer grace.
Lysa TerKeurst has a new book out “It’s not supposed to be this way” which sounds really good. It deals with life’s hurts.
I am checking this out ASAP.