This has been a particularly sad and difficult week for me. We have had too many sad days and weeks – too many senseless killings, too many tragedies, too much suffering. Maybe this was “the last straw”, but the horrific murder of a precious 8 year old girl here in Santa Cruz where I live, coupled with the brutal murder of beautiful Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe left me feeling like I was living in a brown cloud of grief.
It is too easy to get lost in the brown cloud, focusing on all the sadness, pain, suffering in the world – and to forget to find the balance, forget our light and goodness. It is healthy to grieve. Sometimes we need to let ourselves feel it all – cry, wail, scream – and then come back to balance.
How can we deal with such tragedy? I have been using all of my tools to try to find peace and come back to love. Today is better than yesterday, which is better than the day before. Thankfully.
On Monday evening, July 27, when we learned that the 8 year old girl who had been missing for over 24 hours had been found dead, I could not shake the feeling that I was caught in the pain and grief of our community. I could see and feel the darkness around me. I could tell I was “hooked in” to the community pain, and I made sure I spent some time to sit and pray and ask the angels for help, and send healing, and ask to clear my body and my space. It helped a little, but the sadness was back the next day.
I was somewhat comforted the next day, when I tuned into the spirit of the little girl, to see her with the angels, in the light. I could feel the outpouring of love for her, for Cecil the lion, for so many other senseless and horrific deaths.
Here are a few tools to help deal with tragedy:
- Feel it but don’t get lost in it. Cry, communicate, move it through you.
- Limit how much news you are reading about the tragedy.
- Take care of yourself: sleep, eat well, go for walks, sit in the sun, listen to music, read a good book, watch a sweet movie…
- Send prayers and healing, in whatever form works for you. It helps to feel like we are doing something positive.
- Tap! Remember you can be tapping while you are thinking about the horrible stories. You don’t even need to say any words – just tap if you are stick in images or feelings. It helps – it really helps – to release the pain and the stress. Yesterday I took time to tap about the events of the week – and at one point I was yelling “IT’S NOT OK!!” – and I just kept yelling “IT’S NOT OK” until the energy subsided a bit. Then I started saying “WE NEED AN INTERVENTION!!” to the universe, God, the angels, a higher power, whatever you want to call it. After about 15 minutes, I was feeling better. The tragedies still exist, but I was letting go, coming back to love and peace, which is much more helpful to our planet.
- Remember there are so many good people in this world. There really are, even though some of us are embarrassed to be human, to be American.. I look at the Good News Network every day – it helps! And, I limit the news I see, but this week even the limited news on FaceBook is too much for me.
I was guided to remember Ho’oponopono – what perfect words, and what a perfect mantra for these challenging times:
I love you
I’m sorry
Please forgive me
Thank you