A Note From Dr. Beverly Nelson, Director
This has been some week! A lot has happened and many people are going through extreme, unimaginable pain. Of course, at any given moment, in different parts of the world, awful events take place. Some of them don’t receive any media coverage, or they get lost amid the rest of the chaos. These are heavy, troubling days we’re living – it can be hard to grasp, and it can bring us down.
The most frequent – and understandable – reactions to violent acts are fear and anger. While fear is a primal emotion, intended to help us survive, it has a paralyzing effect if we let it take over our lives. Anger can be a very negative emotion, when expressed inappropriately or when allowed to take over our bodies and minds. It can alter our whole perspective for the worse, and it also has very damaging effects on our mind and on our bodies. That being said, it is undeniable that we do feel like this very often in these days we’re living in. How can we avoid these negative reactions? How can we continue being forces of positive change, amid such horrors?
The title of this week’s newsletter is a quote taken from Leonard Cohen’s song “Anthem”. The message of this quote is particularly meaningful today, after what we have lived through this week. In moments like these, people have shown their humanity and have performed wonderful acts of kindness and generosity. My interpretation of this quote, then, is that these acts of humanity are the light that is showing through the cracks of the brutal reality we’ve experienced recently.
If you feel worried, angry or scared, there are many things you can do: volunteer; help a friend; donate to charities or support the families of the victims in some way; write a poem focusing on love and healing; find ways in which to heal yourself spiritually and physically: meditate on love, drink green tea, read a good spiritual book…In any and every way possible, send out love instead of hate.
The only way we can get through tough times is through love. Don’t you agree?
