I don’t like flipping through daily newspapers, TV or internet as there is more gloomy news than good ones. When I do that, I make sure I do the minimum, just to stay informed with the latest social development. But whatever I read or hear, I am not quiet sure as how true and reliable they are. Because if I were to take seriously of all that, then, it feels as if we are heading toward the doomsday in any time soon. Every day, everywhere, the media is so busy to stir up insecurity, provoke fear and manipulate power that which only increases the chain reactions of panic and tension in public. We human beings can’t thrive too well when functioning from fear, insecurity and threats. Under constant tensions and threats, we are likely to become more defensive and destructive than positive and optimistic.
The sole purpose of the media is just to provoke all kinds of fears, worries and insecurities in us as much as they can. The 99% of what they are reporting, circulating is all about problems and corruptions here, tragedy and disasters there, if not gossiping about the celebrities’ latest affairs or their yo-yo weights. The media just loves to offer us with a perpetual drip, drip of scary stuff. They have the scoop on the latest threat; and they’re graciously letting us know, offering advice, warning us, blah-blah-blah.
What do they get in return? They get to control us by playing our psychic and survival instincts, so that they can sell their agendas on behalf of the institutional powers they are representing; so that they get to manipulate us into buying whatever the dominant market forces might want to sell. Isn’t that a great pity to play the helpless puppets in their string? Isn’t that a waste of our time, precious life just to sit around feeling worried and scared all the time, instead of going out to see what else life has to offer? Is our life meant to do nothing but just to defend and prepare against any possible odds in life, like accidents, diseases, tragedy, robbery and cheats that which might or might not happen to us? I don’t think so. As Mark Twain said, 98% of our fears never come true.
Life meant to sustain itself to live, not to annihilate. It was never meant to be continual disaster and tragedy of one kind and another. When we open our eyes and hearts, there are so much goodness and beauty than those ugly things that the media not are reporting to us. Why are they doing that? It’s the game of control they play; gloomy news attracts more attention and it is easier to control people through fear rather than hope. They are out to increase their power and control by constantly reminding us with what is lacking and what we need to have more, rather than what we already have are enough and thereby need to share more with others, together to elevate the qualities of our lives and uplift our spirit to soar towards the highest and noblest causes.
It is our natural desire to be happy and well, and we deserve just that, to enjoy and to become the best we meant to be in life. While some say, there are so much evil, injustice and wrongdoings rampant in the world out there, and the global economic crisis is yet to hit our shore, how can we just sit and relax and take it easy? Then, what do they suggest instead? Up and down, wail and cry every time some bomb knocks off people in somewhere far off country, or go crazy together with volatile stock market? Or keep up with whatever they suggest, by buying this and that, by upgrading this and that, so that we can feel safe and secure, or work 24/7 not to get hit by retrenchment? I really don’t believe that is the way to counter life’s darkness that which will be always there as a part of package offered in the school of life we all have enrolled.
It is written in the Pantanjali Yoga Sutra that, when the negative feelings restrict us, the opposite should be cultivated. Why not inculcate the better habit of carrying a candle whenever you see darkness is looming? By nature, we are resilient beings, not much physically compared to the rest of mammals, but mentally and spiritually we are enormously strong. We are much more magnanimous beings than we know of, capable of gaining full enlightenment in this life time like the Buddha, Jesus, Socrates, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and many others who walked on the earth as we do. What is common in them? They all went against what their social conventions tried to sell it to them. They didn’t buy into it, neither fought; but simply acted accordingly what they felt right in their heart; they didn’t toil or struggle to standoff against the giant odds in their society. Instead they simply lived and did their own thing regardless of what others or authorities might say. They carried a candle to lighten up their life and others regardless of the wind or tornado. Why can’t we?
How? Be watchful of negative energy, bad people and all other kinds of basic do’s and don’ts to keep your family and you safe and healthy. But don’t become neurotic or go hysterical until you have to sleep with an electrical bat just in the case a thief comes in at night (my boy’s school friend who lives in a bungalow with bullet proof doors does that). Your very focus on the negative things in life, in fact, can backfire you like a powerful magnet, as we attract what we put our attention the most. Be vigilant but don’t forget to breathe and be serene. In challenging times like this, where goodness, kindness, and optimism seem so scarce to come by, why not you become the candle around your loved ones by refining and raising your energy levels?
Aching back and pain in the neck by too much sitting and fixation to computer? Don’t go to doctor. They will give you pills but will add that you have to exercise more. So step aside and stretch your body up and down and twist sideways. Do few up and down dog like how my naughty Doberman does when he is bored. Bloating tummy and gas in the afternoon? Don’t swallow pain killers. Sit with a straight back, be in the office, in the car or in the couch, adjust your shoulders and posture to be comfortable; and then, place your hands, one on the chest and one on the tummy; do the few deep breathing until you can feel the movements on your both hands, gently rising and falling together with the breaths. Don’t forget to squeeze your lower abdomen slightly at the end of each out-breath. Need to be calmer and cheer up? Don’t go to psychologist. Close your eyes (or half close if you have to pretend to work) with your attention between the eyebrows. Imagine little spark of light from there spreading, spreading its brightness to fill your whole body, to the whole room or office, even to your nasty bosses…and say to yourself, darkness is disappearing, darkness is disappearing, all there is light, all there is light…5 to 10 minutes would do. Everybody else in the world go crazy because they are so mental and stressful. I suggest you don’t buy into that. Trot along with your conscious breathing, upright posture and positive emotion. That is the candle we should not forget to carry with us wherever we are, whatever we are doing it. Then, you are safe. I guarantee. Cheers!
