What To Do When The World Seems Unstable
These days it seems like the world can be an incredibly unstable place. It is so important not to let events that seem out of control completely take over our consciousness. This is a case where it is helpful for each of us to remember that we are individuals. There is so much that could be said here, but let me start with a paradigm shift. First of all, we are all infinite beings. That is not philosophy. It is indelible fact. We might be living in finite bodies, but each of us knows that we have no beginning and no end. This is, of course, why we naturally want to live forever. This is why we never run out of desire to go on and on and on with our lives.
So knowing this fact, it behooves us to take the truth of who we are into account when we find ourselves dealing with world events that seem to destabilize all of our lives. We stand on absolutely firm footing when we come from our infinite selves. We can take our physical lives into account by being completely centered in this fact. That is the place from which to start. If you doubt that you are an infinite being, you have only to be honest about your experience to know this for yourself. Look in the mirror. Look into your own eyes. Accept the fact that what you see there is eternal youth and eternal potentiality. There is simply no end to all of the things that you would love to do!
Now take into account the fact that your physical body, mind, and emotions can be highly reactive to what is going on around you. Unfortunately our biological nature can be somewhat herd-like. If many people are upset, in all likelihood we shall find ourselves upset as well. This is where it can be a tremendous advantage to come from your infinite self, rather than your physical body with all of its reactionary components. If you love your physical existence (and of course you should) then step one is to find a way to calm your body down. Find a way to calm your mind and emotions.
Your infinite self, your identity in the universe at large, exists as an absolute. It is the most stable thing there is. From here you can take a deep breath and recognize yourself as an individual. You can begin to understand your life as unique and individual among all others. Now you are in a position to take full command of your individual situation. You are in a position to take command of your own consciousness in light and in love.
Start with love. Love your life, love your body, and love yourself. Be kind to yourself. Understand that what your body, mind, and emotions need right now is the calming influence of your higher self. Assess your situation as an individual. What is the truth about your life right now? Are you really in any danger or is it just collective speculation that you have fallen prey to? That is an awful lot of negative energy to allow to shape your thoughts and feelings about yourself. Once you have come to terms with the actual facts about your individual life, which are probably far more positive than negative speculation will allow, you can center yourself in those facts and thereby stabilize your consciousness.
Next you want to find ways to soothe and heal yourself from the global negativity. Be creative! Imagine ways to create a healing “spa” for your consciousness. One of the best ways to do this is to connect with nature. The natural world can serve as your oasis in the storm. Think of the peace of the forest, the tranquility of a running stream, the beauty of sunlight as it moves through its various hues during the course of a day. If you live in a big city, think of ways to bring nature into your home. Maybe you can bring the soothing energy of green plants into your space. Light a candle, whose fire is one of the most fundamental elements of the natural world.
Play music that is soft and relaxing to counter the noise of the outside world. Try your hand at some kind of art. That is a fantastic way to transcend the stress of humanity in a state of turmoil. It puts you back in touch with your primordial, creative self. It will center you.
And of course there is the wisdom of daily meditation, which is one of the best ways to provide yourself with a daily retreat. Add some natural crystals and stones to this activity, and allow their beautiful vibration to influence you accordingly. Clear your energy of fear and doubt by breathing in light and love. Remember that you may have taken in a lot of this negative energy from sources outside of yourself. Open the windows of your consciousness and determine to let such energies go. Refresh yourself. Breathe light into your entire body and mind. Fresh flowers in your space can also be very clearing and uplifting.
You owe this to yourself because your life matters. By clearing and caring for yourself with kindness and love, you become one more person who does not spread fear and negativity. The entire universe will back you up in this, as you determine yourself to be part of the light. If you care for yourself in this way, you become a calming influence of peace to others. The entire world needs that influence so desperately right now. What could be more healing to the consciousness of others than to be around someone who exudes centeredness and peace? You can be that person if you so desire!
Leave me a comment below and tell me how you might stay in balance during unstable times. Do you have any thoughts on this subject that you can share with us?
Saratoga, this is so wonderful! Thank you!! centered and peaceful, this is such a sweet gift to have & to give
I was feeling lost these last few days, your beautiful explanation of the infinite self versus the finite is key, a simple powerful truth. I instantly felt ‘back’ again, like – oh! There it is… thank you! This is profound beyond words. I want be this way all the time, to take command of my consciousness in love and light. So be it! Thank you for all these great gifts you keep showering us with.
Barb, it’s interesting that you referred to your experience as feeling lost. This is a perfect description of what happens when we go unconscious to our true, infinite self and let the reactions of the body, mind, and emotions take over. We instantly lose stability and it can thus be very difficult to find our way back in the storm. In fact, I would suggest that our bodies, minds, and emotions actually crave the stability of our true selves being in full command of our experience.
If we allow ourselves to become absent in our own consciousness, then our physical systems tend to go into panic and look for that stability on the outside. Thus we may experience enormous, unrelenting stress, since the “outside” is highly unpredictable and unreliable. You perfectly described the experience of feeling “back” again and how that instantly affected you. Thank you!
Thank you Saratoga, I couldn’t think of a more timely message! I had a mini meltdown last night, feeling hopeless and worried from all the stresses of life. Then I read your message and I was able to sit back and center myself into the bigger picture. I found my consciousness going into space and saw the planet quietly revolving and thought to myself, this too shall pass. And an overwhelming peace came to me. I guess that is a form of meditation. All I know is between your empowering message and those few moments of quiet I was able to center myself and felt calm, knowing that through the passage of time, things will happen, and it is my choice to act or react in those times. I also loved your suggestion of a candle being an element of nature, I never thought of it that way, I like the idea of meditating with a candle when life gets the better of me, I imagine it burning away all of my negative thought patterns. Thank you! – Susan McDonald
What a beautiful image you suggest here of going into space and viewing the planet silently rotating. You are so right that this is a wonderful way to find those precious moments of peace. Isn’t it amazing that we really are this powerful; that we can expand our consciousness into the universe in order to remind ourselves of the true context of our lives?
Another beautiful thought that you share is the idea of imagining the energy of fire in the candle burning away or literally transmuting negative thought patterns. I really like this idea, because it reminds me of how planet Earth offers us such an abundance of help and support in all of her natural elements. For example, people have relied on stones, crystals, plants, water, sunlight, etc.. for thousands of years to support their evolution.
If we can partner with stones and crystals to aid us in so many ways, why not go directly to the universal elements of creation, like fire, in a similar fashion? Of course many people already use the fire element in this way, but I love the simplicity of partnering with a lovely candle flame in meditation. When used in this way, such fire can bring us peace and calming. Like sitting in front of a warm fireplace on a cold night 🙂
Thank you, Susan!
Hi Saratoga, when I first saw the title of this this blog, I didn’t think that I would be overly interested or affected by the message, as I am currently involved with many intense and challenging issues in my personal life. The world being unstable is something that unfortunately, I have just gotten use to. But when I paused and contemplated what you have communicated, I realized that the unstable world that you refer to is …my reality. It’s not out in the world somewhere, it’s my life. I could so readily list numerous examples of how crazy, and topsy turvy my daily life is. The suggestion that I could get in touch with nature, buy some flowers, play some some soothing music, or light a candle while meditating, almost made me want to cry out… Oh if only it were that easy and who has time for that anyways? And yet, …that’s exactly what I yearn for …and wholeheartedly need to hear and want to do!! Bless you for delivering a message that is so joyous, direct and beautiful in a world that sometimes seems so crazy and restless! I almost missed the message. Thank goodness I have been blessed with patience, determination and a hunger for the truth.
Much love
Judi
Judi, you describe a very common issue that emerges when life gets truly “crazy”. That craziness and its accompanying reactiveness tends to gain momentum. The more momentum it gains, the more doing something simple, like meditating, starts to seem rather small by comparison and maybe even futile. One can feel “Why bother?”
But this is the time when you need to do something simple and peaceful more than ever. Why? Because it stops the crazy momentum and gives you a chance to breathe and re-evaluate. The only alternative is to let the craziness continue. If you just take 15 minutes for a peaceful, soothing break, you can pay attention to how that will slow down or even stop the stressful momentum, thereby clearing your mind to think more productively.
Thank you Saratoga! This has been so calming for me to just even read and feel myself remembering what truly is important. How easy for me to be pulled to the world around me when I know my life really is about acknowledging my strength inside and listening to what is going on there!
Thank you so much for all your loving support and wonderful messages!
You are so welcome, Paddy! Yes, the real stability comes from the inside. If we spend time there and do more to cultivate our inner strength, then we will not be so susceptible to being thrown off by stressful events in the world. We can actually become our own most reliable source of peace and stability. It is really just a matter of treating yourself with love and compassion.
It is so odd (or perhaps I should say suspicious) that when life is at it’s craziest is when we can feel the least motivated to do something to take care of ourselves. I know I’ve had that experience before, sort of like the “why bother” feeling you pointed out. I love what you say that we owe it to ourselves to take care of ourselves because we matter. I am learning that this is even more important when things get crazy as the negativity often builds and feeds on itself, so not only is it important to center myself to halt these feelings, but to prevent them from getting out of hand.
I was recently away from home in a somewhat “challenging” environment. When I noticed this was starting to influence my experience, I felt inspired to be in nature and so I spent some time walking in a wonderful old-growth forest, enjoying the peace and tranquility and the beautiful colours of the turning leaves. The experience was very healing and enabled me to go back feeling restored on several levels.
When I finally returned home, though, I still felt some lingering effects of the environment on me. As I said, I’ve felt that “why bother” feeling often enough before and I could feel the remnants of some kind of pattern around that. I decided I just didn’t want to feel that way anymore and started to think of what I could do to get back to that feeling of being centered. Again, I felt that I had to be in nature. It was such a strong feeling, like some kind of imperative! It was almost as though if I didn’t leave right away, my legs were going to walk me there by themselves. 🙂 I ended up having a really magical time and I felt all this “stuff” just slip away. Thank God!
I remember hearing someone I know tell me that “When people start feeling happy, they get hooked on it.” That’s so true! I feel like that’s the key – I want to be happy! I feel like it takes a lot of energy to remain unhappy or upset. My answer to the “why bother” thing is … why bother spending energy on that?
Yes, I totally agree. Why bother expending energy on being upset? Great point! Especially when the only result of doing so is more pain and suffering. Isn’t it funny how we can be so quick to validate negative emotions and so slow to cultivate positive ones?
It’s wonderful that you took the initiative to actively do something about an increasingly negative experience. I think that nature is a great healer and also a great harmonizer. Being out in nature restores our natural resonance with the Earth. It’s free, it’s simple, it’s relaxing and enjoyable.
It’s not that these simple things are difficult to do. What is difficult is remembering to change our state of mind and why that should be important to us. Wanting to be happy is probably the greatest success of all because it signals real motivation to take positive command of your experience. Yay! Great job, Avalon 🙂
Thank you so much, Saratoga! Your messages, and the amazing monthly Telstar Newsletters, always convey truth beyond a shadow of doubt and help me stay conscious. I have been practicing consciousness and awareness for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, my past conditioning has been incredibly challenging but as I continue to evolve, my awareness continues to unfold, deepen and expand about what’s truth and what’s illusion. I think that’s now crystal clear to me in my life. So for me, it’s about consistently choosing from moment to moment–staying aware is practice. I’m hoping that one day it won’t be such a constant effort to actually “stay conscious”. Since, in fact, we are infinite beings, and I’ve always known that to be true, it’s a question of aligning with truth so I don’t continue to be swept away by everything that’s going on around me, around us, all the time. Consciousness as an infinite being is my natural state.
At this point in my life, in my evolution, I can’t pretend that I don’t know what the truth is. Staying aware of truth from moment to moment is a challenge, but for me it’s A or B. I can’t go back, nor do I want to. It also helps me to read certain books. I’m currently reading Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose”…. The way he expresses truth resonates for me, and I can read a sentence or a paragraph out of context, which I find valuable.
For me, it ‘s about my willingness to take responsibility when my “stuff” is trying to get the best of me, just old habits that are not quick to die. But I know that the more I stay conscious and align with truth, the less attention I give to those habits that no longer serve me, the quieter those patterns become, the more expansive my life gets, and the more grounded, confident, happy and loving I feel.
Your wisdom and love are always with me.
My gratitude is boundless.
Love,
Leigh
Leigh, one thing that might help is to develop a clear picture of what you would like to experience and how you would like your circumstances to be. Don’t base this on what you have experienced in the past. Instead, base it on your purest heart.
Think of your life as a garden. Take stock of what is in that garden now. You can look at the old, unwanted habit patterns as “weeds”. Your infinite self is the gardener. The reason that gardeners don’t want weeds in their flower beds is because the weeds tend to suck the energy and resources away from the beautiful plants, and then overtake the space. It’s funny that unwanted patterns do the very same thing. They demand all of our resources and energy, so there is little left for happiness.
So you can look at your infinite self as the gardener who is able to clearly define what can be in that garden to produce happiness, and what should be eliminated.
The images of the garden as my infinite self are powerful… and the old habits and conditioning as weeds that need to be eliminated. Is that really possible? I hear you, Saratoga, but my brain, my being, carries everything I’ve ever experienced… every memory, every single moment is imprinted in my consciousness. The only thing I can do is be real in the present. I feel like I constantly need to reset the current moment so that I can align with truth. I don’t believe that everything I’ve experienced in the past just disappears–that doesn’t seem realistic. I am the sum total of all of my experiences. I can’t pretend the past didn’t happen, can I?I need to use the past as the place I don’t return to. I appreciate your insight and the images you present here are powerful and clear. I feel that the best thing I can do now is to be honest with what is–and with what was. Is there a way we can just release everything that’s happened in the past?
It’s not about making the past disappear, being in denial, or losing your memory. It’s about what you put your attention on and what you choose to validate about yourself. It is perfectly valid to see yourself as the sum total of all of your experiences, if that is what you want. But bear in mind that this may make it much more difficult to change. Whatever you argue for – you will probably win the argument.
Saratoga, the October Global Vision #2 clarifies this even more. Thank you so much for the reality check! “Transference of consciousness and energy..” That really resonates and tells me what I need to do. I love this blog you’ve created here. It makes everything clear in the moment.
Thank you Saratoga, your messages are so inspirational. I really enjoy reading them. What’s really odd is that after I read many of them I feel like…yeah, that seems so simple…why didn’t I think of that? Its a testament to how crazy our experience of this world is that what seems so pure and natural is so easy to feel alienated from. Alienated is a good word too, because it seems like we’re aliens to reality in the way we live and think here. Thanks for reminding me repeatedly of the truth, your blog posts and newsletters really help a lot. Yes,it helps to remember how really small our little human world is. I remember in junior high biology class one day the teacher brought in a jar of common pond water. He took a little droplet of that water and put it on a slide under a microscope set to its most powerful setting. We each in turn took a look and I remember seeing a whole slew of one celled organisms squirming about in that little droplet. I have recently been remembering that experience wondering how much like a paramecium my perspective often is, so absorbed in my own little droplet of water, unaware of the pond much less the entire ocean, planet, solar system, universe at large and whatever is beyond that…..and that droplet of water can be a entire planet, or more close to experiencial home, a whole perspective. If I can just stay centered in the love I feel inside I can feel not only relatively unscathed as I move through life, but feel the strength to also contribute by showing others that the love they’ve felt themselves is real and can have a practical impact. I guess it comes down to what I’m most willing to trust in the now. Thank you for your constant reminders, they’re so practical and helpful. I helps so much to have such support when the world seems so empty of it.
It’s funny that you use the word “alien”, Tony, because what we tend to be alienated from the most is our actual desire for happiness and love. We become alienated from the fact that we are creators in our own lives. We make all sorts of excuses why these things don’t really matter because we have done such a good job at surviving without them. Surviving without them becomes a greater goal than creating such goodness anew.
To Leigh’s point above, this is why dealing with unwanted patterns can be so difficult. We become convinced that such patterns have “saved us” at some point in the past, so therefore living with them can become a higher priority than letting them go and living as creators of our own happiness instead.
It is all ultimately about a paradigm shift to be centered in love, rather than fear and negativity. Making such a shift is life transforming.
Hi Saratoga,
This is such an amazing and wonderful message. I have to be honest and say that I have allowed myself to be affected by the unstable world. I would also have to say, as Judi did, that my own life has felt very unstable, and honestly a little scary. As I was reading your message, after I read the words that your infinite self, your identity in the universe is absolute..my entire body relaxed.
This message reminds me of the beautiful rose, which has the highest vibration on the planet. It raises the vibration of everything around it. I choose to be a rose.
All of your messages are so loving and wonderful.
Thank you
Saratoga,
Kathleen
This is a perfect example of what happens when you shift your identity to your infinite self. You will feel instant stability because in the infinite there is only oneness. There is no conflict there. The finite world of duality is unstable by nature, so if you make that your only center in life, your life will also feel unstable.
Hi Saratoga; I have had a bad cold the past two weeks and so am reading your blog for the first time today. How timely, given the recent tragic events in Canada! Such outer instability just makes me yearn all the more for the inner stability of infinite consciousness. I want so much to experience the paradigm shift you speak of and to be a calming influence instead of contributing more to the turbulence with a fearful reaction. And I want to never leave that still and serene centre no matter how much the storm rages. Thanks for the ‘life bouy’…
Doug
Doug, your desire and yearning for that inner stability can be the motivating force that drives you there. Keep nurturing that desire every day, and watch how it changes your life!