Life Coaching: How to Stay Sane When the World Appears Insane

I just went through airport security on my way to Seattle to visit my brother’s family for Thanksgiving.

If there ever was a physical manifestation of collective paranoia, psychosis, delusion and insanity this is it. One guy put something in his shoe and a billion people strip down, raise their arms in an x-ray contraption right out of an apocalyptic science fiction novel, and surrender their water bottles.

Yes, 11.5 years ago an unimaginable thing happened. I was there, eight months pregnant, taking photos when the second plane hit the second tower. It was shocking, devastating and tragic.

This may sound harsh, but we have seriously over-reacted. The paranoia and fear around flying is way out of proportion to the actual tragedy. It’s a symptom of our obsession with 24 hour news, crime dramas and political paranoia.

I saw this during the election too. In all camps. Both sides were terrified, clinging desperately to their pet rights. Both literally terrified that America was doomed if the “others” won.

An embassy is bombed and terror and fury ensue. Someone must be blamed. Not the terrorists, but our political leaders.

Jessica Ridgeway, a sweet 10 year old in Denver was murdered this fall. Abducted by a teenager who became obsessed with crime dramas and forensic science. Parents fearfully herded their children in their homes. No more walking to school or riding bikes around the block.

Never mind that Saddam Hussein is dead. The crazy shoe guy was arrested. The airplane bombers died in the crash. Jessica’s murderer is behind bars. That only days later a boy killed his overprotective mother because he felt suffocated. That children are more likely to safely reach adulthood than any time in history.  And we’ve survived 42 presidents, even the ones we didn’t agree with.

The world can be a terrifying place. Crazyass people do unimaginable things sometimes.

Take a breath and absorb how that fact feels in your body. Tense, clenching stomach, hunched shoulders, clenched jaw.

This is stealing our collective peace. It’s robbing us of our collective sanity. In truth we are giving it away. Paying billions of dollars in taxes for homeland security, billions more to fight small sects of extremist nuts, billions in cable news advertising, and billions more in negative, fear mongering political ads. We lost more lives in the War Against Terrorism than we did in the World Trade Center bombings and embassy bombings.

Imagine, all of this when we are terrified of the poor economy. Think of all that money and what we could otherwise do with it. How bad could the economy be if we are investing so much in our fear?

Fear Not For I Am With You.

Every spiritual practice boils down to this.

And yes, in the face of uncertainty this takes effort. It takes a blatant denial of evidence to the contrary. Sometimes it takes medication, therapy, meditation or life coaching. Whatever it takes to restore inner peace is worth it.

The only way out of the fear is to make a conscious choice to stay in the light, and turn away from the dark. The fear is the dark. The fear lets the random crazy people win. The 98% of honest, good people lose. The billions of good, kind people are suspect.

The price for all of these illusions of “safety and security” is to live in chronic fear of coulds.

I’m challenging you to a Media Fast. The challenge is to turn away the dark. Turn off talk radio, turn off cable news, don’t read the newspaper, put down the thriller novel, don’t DVR the crime sitcoms. Do it through this season of light, until Jan 1, 2013.

Rather, spend your time having coffe with a neighbor, hanging out with your family watching and reading feel good, uplifting media, and experiencing the real truth of your life.

The truth is that the country isn’t doomed, your kids will come home from school, they will sleep safely in your house, terrorism won’t likely happen in your neighborhood, your plane will land. The economy will recover, faster if we stop wasting our trillions on fear-motivated endeavors like wars on things that are out of our control.

If you participate in The Girl Revolution Media Fast I can’t promise you will never  be afraid again. But I can promise that your soul will get some rest, your stress level will drop, your life will feel safer and more secure.

Fear not. Be Still. Let there be light.

Tracee Sioux is a Law of Attraction Coach at www.traceesioux.com. She is the author of Love Distortion: Belle, Battered Codependent and Other Love Stories. Contact her at traceesioux@gmail.com.

 

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