Creating Security from Within
March 2003



The State of the World
We likely agree that the state of the world is a bit confusing at the moment. There is a sense of uncertainty, of life on “hold”, of “waiting to see” what will happen, if war will escalate or subside. With uncertainty comes fear, peeking in the windows of our experience, raising doubt, questions, and worry. It is time for reinforcements, to strengthen the inner fortress, to develop our own personal sense of security.

The Essence of Allowing
Waiting for external conditions to occur before we can feel stable is unnerving. It is almost like trying to force it to rain during a drought. We must simply continue living, with sincere awareness of the amount of water we are consuming as individuals, while hoping that it will rain soon. It is not as though we give up on the rain, we just do not allow ourselves to be consumed by it. We simply give up on sitting outside, watching the clear blue sky, wondering when the rain will come pouring down.

Peace on the Inside
Perhaps the best way to create peace in the world, is to practice being peaceful. While it might feel more natural initially to be anxious or frightened, that is not peace. Be kind to others; be gentle with you; show love to your friends and family; move with intention and without rushing — that is creating peace. In the end, being thousands of miles away from the war, there is little we can do about the state of the world, except live peacefully and with compassion every day.

Reinforcing the Foundation
The weight of our worries can be heavy. We do not want to collapse under the pressure of it all. Allowing and living peacefully as mentioned above, can help, but we can also develop and strengthen our foundation that we may withstand whatever comes our way.

What is foundation? It is the platform on which you stand, your beliefs, ideas that strengthen or weaken you, your self-image, your relationships with others and yourself, your prejudices and judgments against yourself or others, the food you put in your mouth, your sexual safety practices, your organizational systems, your level of honesty and integrity, your grudges, your standards for yourself and things in your life, etc. The list goes on and on. Why wait in worry when there is plenty to do to strengthen your foundation? If we all developed our foundations, we would improve the world.

Living without Delay
We are faced with a tremendous choice. We can continue to “wait”, hold on making important decisions, put off self-care or eat poorly because we feel hopeless about war. We can stop spending money out of fear that there will not be enough. (If everyone stopped spending, guess what? There will not be enough and we would have created it.)
I am not saying go blow all your cash and savings on a trip to Tahiti, but I am saying, live. Keep the “flow” of life going…the more we wait and hold, the more restricted everything becomes. The more stagnancy is created.

My favorite line…
This is your one life. Why not make it amazing?

close window