You may be old enough to remember Billy Joel’s song “We didn’t start the fire”.
When this heavy metal loving teenager first heard it on the radio, I was pleasantly surprised how catchy it was.
Now Billy Joel wrote the song after hearing someone from a younger generation complaining about how the older baby boomers had it easy in terms of worrying, world shaking events.
So he set out all the events of history in his song, along with the fact that there’s been trouble in the world since the world was turning.
And it’s so so true.
It can be SO easy to look at the events of today and think they represent the end for the world. That we are in dark times, that we’ll never survive this, that we are entering Armageddon and it’s just a matter of counting down.
But the world has been through worse than this, and its people have come through.
History is a rollercoaster.
Sometimes it looks easy, full of peace and harmony. Other times it takes a dive into confusion and despair and turmoil. Then it changes once again …
This is the same for the events of the world, AND the events of our lives. Sometimes it’s all going great and according to plan, sometimes all hell breaks loose.
Our job is to stay off the rollercoaster – you have to realise that the very nature of life is change.
Just look at nature itself, it’s in a constant state of flux. But it has no resistance to that change. It doesn’t care, it works with it.
There are times to grow and expand, there are times to nestle in and nurture.
Now –
Trying to find stability in change is difficult because you will be disappointed. You will not find what you are looking for.
Relying on the events and the people in the world to give you peace and happiness and certainty will always disappoint.
You want to find an anchor in that which does not change. You want to create your own peace and certainty.
You always have a choice. You choose how you respond to the rollercoaster, and the constantly changing nature of life.
We choose!
Choose not to get lost in change and drama.
Engage if you wish, but keep a light touch, a sense of humour … that will keep a degree of separation. Otherwise you get sucked into the chaos.
That reminds me:
We can choose to be lost in the washing machine, turned upside down by events and emotions. Or we can step back a small distance and witness it all tumbling around from outside the glass.
This is our choice.
Choose not to engage the fear of “what if?”.
Fear doesn’t help, at all.
Times may be tough, but you get through them by dealing with the facts of this moment in time. Don’t entertain all the “what if’s” endlessly.
Choose to make the most of now – do the best with what you’ve been given.
Find stability, be present, find the good in the moment. There is always some, regardless of the external chaos.
There is always beauty, you just have to find it.
There is always hope, you just have to be it.
Alright?
Choose to practice this. Choose to be a true lighthouse for your loved ones – a source of stability, guidance, hope, love, and humour.
We will get through this, but we have to go through this first. Don’t look for the end, make the most of now.
Go well!
Arjuna